If you’re looking for some fun activities to reduce anxiety you’ll want to do over and over again, you’re in the right place!
When you’re constantly dealing with all of the negative aspects of anxiety, it’s important take fun breaks and remind yourself of the other ways to handle anxiety.
There are so many resources out there that give you the hardcore, difficult steps to improve your anxiety symptoms (even a few here). But, sometimes, we just want to have fun in spite of our mental illness.
So, dive into the activities below and keep in mind that even though anxiety can suck, you will have so many beautiful ways to enjoy your life with or without the anxiety.
This post is all about activities to reduce anxiety.
FUN ACTIVITIES TO REDUCE ANXIETY:
1. Singing along to that song
In the car or sitting on the couch, jam out to that song. Yes, it always feels more serendipitous to happen upon that song that always gets you dancing, but don’t let that stop you from finding it on Spotify or asking Alexa to play it for you.
To avoid your shyness from outshining having fun, try to do this alone or out of earshot of anyone else. No matter how well you sing, you want to focus on the raw energy behind the music and doing fun activities for anxiety, letting it erase all traces of anxiety.
2. Have a dance-out
The same that singing to a song that gets you going will make you feel better, dancing will have a similar effect. Plus, by engaging your body, you’ll be able to bring your mind and body together.
Oftentimes, when we’re struggling with anxiety, our minds are off somewhere else instead of in the present with our bodies. So, every chance to bring them together is the perfect opportunity for activities to reduce anxiety.
Again, try do this alone or with only people you trust not to judge because you want to focus on shaking out the tension and focusing on the pure joy of music.
3. Re-watch your favorite feel-good movie
We all have those movies or shows that make us feel good. We’ve seen them likely way too many times, can quote them, or we just absolutely love the way they make us feel. Either way, this is sure to be one of your go-to anxiety reducing activities for adults.
So, re-watching a favorite movie or tv show is a great way to get those anxious feelings out of the way and focus on feeling good. You can choose anything to watch, but you should opt for something you like and have seen before because you’ll get the anxiety out of your head.
4. Watch a documentary or Ted Talk
On a basic level, we all love to learn. It fulfills us and gives a new way to understand the world because we now have new information with which to interpret it. That’s why this is one of the best fun activities to reduce anxiety.
Thus, documentaries, Ted Talks, or any kind of source of visual information will allow us to focus our brain on taking any new information for the joy of it. Then, we can distract ourselves from the source of anxiety that probably was hurting rather than helping to begin with.
5. Take yourself out on a picnic
There’s really no reason not to do a picnic right now. Okay, so maybe you’re at work or at dinner with family or something. Otherwise, right now is a great opportunity to gather your favorite snacks or foods and go to your local outdoor space.
This can be a park, your backyard, or the beach. Feel free to invite people who will adhere to the simple idea of a picnic and understand the idea of activities that reduce anxiety. In the same vein, try to find a place away from people, so you can reconnect to yourself, nature, and enjoy some yummy food.
6. Create a list of your top five dream destinations
This is your chance to find five destinations you’ve always wanted to visit and put them into a list. Rank them from most wanted to the ones you’re okay with waiting to see.
Go all out with this: you can create a vision board, excel sheet, or Google Doc (whatever your vibe is) and include links, pictures, landmarks. Really dig into the reasons you want to visit the place and get so deep into Googling it that you start to imagine yourself there.
7. Find five must-try recipes
Go through those reels you saved from Facebook and Instagram and compile a list of recipes you have to try. The sky is the limit on this one because everyone sucks at cooking until they practice.
If you don’t like cooking, then recruit some help and make it fun—because the bottom-line is having fun. With those five recipes, choose two or three to get the ingredients for and make them a reality.
The caveat: if you’re not a great cook and/or making recipes for the first time, go easy on yourself and be open to failing. And, really, there’s usually a way to save “failed” food.
8. Put on your favorite outfit and host a photoshoot
Take the idea of your favorite outfit and make it whatever you want: from glammed up with a formal dress and high heels to your comfiest sweats and slippers, this is all about fun.
Once you’re dressed, you can either set your phone up and take a video or you can recruit someone to be your photographer. With a video setup, you can go back and take screenshots of the best poses. The sky really is the limit, so go enjoy yourself.
9. Do ten jumping jacks then ten push-ups and repeat until you’re tired
This is unexpected, but also very on-brand for shaking yourself out of a mental rut. When anxiety has got you down and you need some activities to reduce anxiety, one of the best ways to get out of it is movement.
I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face: moving your body gets your mind in the present, especially when neither you nor your brain expect it. So, get up then get down and keep doing that until you can laugh at yourself. (I speak from experience 😂)
10. Get rid of five pieces of clothing from your closet
That weight on your shoulders (I bet you just dropped them 😉), yeah, let’s get rid of that weight. Part of the weight you probably don’t even realize is the stuff you have.
From cleanliness and picking up to storage, stuff can be stressful. We want to keep that blouse for the perfect occasion (that barely comes around), so we can’t part with it. Or maybe we have that endearing sweatshirt with a seven-year-old stain you’ve been meaning to clean.
Whatever the case may be, you’ll be surprised how good you’ll feel when you give away (lots of great, sustainable options here) or toss your old clothes. If you’re not sure what to give away, you could always do the old hanger trick.
11. Send a friend ten dollars and get a hot beverage
Ten dollars seems like it’s a bit much for a drink, but, let’s be honest, no good drink will reliably be five dollars are less. So, treat a friend to a ten dollar drink.
The catch? They have to send you the cutest, Instagram-worthy pictures of the drink and them enjoying it because we forget how much helping other people makes us feel good.
Ideally, you should choose someone already ready for that drink—someone who works outside of the house or who LOVES a good coffee or tea. That way, you get the text the same day and they get happy the same day. Win win, am I right?
12. Do a wild makeup look on yourself
The best part about making yourself feel good is: it’s all about you. When you’re trying to get out of an anxiety loop, you can focus on what will make you feel good in the moment. So, do some fun makeup.
Take chances, be bold, and get rid of that fear. No one has to see it, and, if you enjoy doing makeup, you’ll have fun experimenting when you would normally shy away from it.
13. Learn a TikTok dance but don’t record yourself
We’ve all seen those fascinating dances people do on TikTok and we probably all have a secret interest in doing them, as long as those dances never see the light of social media.
So, this is your chance to break out your TikTok (with caution because it’s a blackhole for the attention span) and find a fun dance. Go through a couple of videos of a dance you like—you can probably find a how-to video of that dance, too!
Then, practice and try it out. Have fun, don’t record, and let yourself do something for no other reason than challenging yourself and having fun.
14. Decide on the next five gifts you’re going to give people
No matter what you celebrate or what time of year it is, you always have a list of gifts you need to plan out. It might be your friend’s birthday, a holiday, or a wedding.
This is a great time to figure out the next five gifts you’re going to give people. Planning out the gifts is great because 1) people like to do kind things for others as we talked about before and 2) you’re doing future you a favor by thinking about this now.
15. Facetime a friend who has a dog or cat
There’s something special about messaging a close friend and asking them if you can Facetime them and their furbaby. You might have a dog or cat or pet of your own, but I’m telling you this will be different.
Depending on how often you see this friend, you may never have even met their furbaby and, for those of you who have pets, there’s almost no better feeling than a loved one wanting to meet your pet.
So, text that friend and ask them. I’m sure you’ll have a great time catching up with them and watching their pet have a great time trying to figure out what the heck a phone is.