Print this calming anxiety handout to use when you feel tense, restless or watchful despite there being no immediate problem to solve. It offers a simple way to recognise an overactive alarm response, pause the urge to search for danger, and return attention to the present moment.
The “What can help?” section centres on one useful prompt: “Is there a problem I need to deal with right now?” It then suggests grounding through noticing the surroundings, feeling your feet on the floor, dropping your shoulders, unclenching your jaw, and allowing the body time to settle.
Clear explanations describe why anxiety, prolonged stress or pressure can leave the nervous system on high alert after circumstances have calmed down. The handout links physical tension and hypervigilance with thoughts such as “What am I forgetting?”, “Is something wrong?” and “Why can’t I relax?”
A second section explores why calm can feel strange when being alert has become familiar. It identifies common reassurance-seeking and checking behaviours, including checking a phone, reviewing plans, scanning the body, replaying events and looking for a possible problem, while explaining how these habits can keep anxiety going.
Suitable for anxious adults, teenagers and older children who can engage with reflective prompts, this one-page anxiety worksheet can be printed for home, counselling, therapy sessions or wellbeing support. It may help someone practise responding to feeling on edge without needing to find evidence that something is wrong.
