My number-one go to when overcoming anxiety…aside from the gym

Every individual of course has their own ways of overcoming feelings of anxiety and enabling themselves once again to focus on the task at hand.  Last semester I had a large gap in between classes in which time I would often go over to my friend Jen’s house, who I’ve known since our freshman year.  We would usually sit and work on assignments, but there was one day in particular I remember when Jen, as any good friend does changed my perspective on something.  One of my classes last semester proved to be very difficult and caused me much anxiety and stress.  Jen saw that I was working on my project for this class during our allotted work times and noticed by the look on my face how frustrated and stuck I was.  I am never one to hide my facial expressions, so it is quite apparent when I am feeling off, which is something my friends all talk about.  I look at it as both a gift and a curse that my facial expressions come right through. It’s a gift because I physically cannot lie, and I am very honest with how I feel but a curse when people are sensitive to my reactions.  Jen, like all of my other friends became acquainted with my face making and was very in-tune to when I needed to calm down.  As I was stressing on my project, it took me a few minutes to come out of my cursing and storm of vulgar emotion to look up and realize that she was laughing at me.  At first I squinted my eyes at her with a smirk then she uttered something similar to: “Are you going to be alright over there?”  Above all else she got me to realize I was taking things to seriously and really need to “take a chill pill.” She insisted that I saved what I was doing and put my laptop away.  With some heavy breaths I did just that.  She turned on her TV to Netflix and put on one of my new favorite comedians Iliza Shlesinger.  Like an infant watching a mobile above a crib I was instantly locked in and completely distracted from all of my stress.  We sat there for the next hour busting at out laughs and losing track of the time.  I left Jen’s that day feeling much more relaxed and once again able to focus on classes and what needed to be done.  She reminded of my Granny Pearl’s number one cure for anything-laughter.  Laughter is known to release endorphins in the brain and instantly make people feel better.  The greatest friends one could ever hope for, I believe, are the ones who can completely flip our mood 180 in the blink of an eye, only to make us learn more about ourselves.