Think About Your Feet

Anxiety can be confusing, frustrating, and overwhelming. One helpful way to understand it is this: anxiety is often anticipatory stress. It’s usually not about what’s happening right now — it’s about what we imagine might happen in the future, and the belief that it won’t go well.

Just recognizing that can sometimes take the intensity down a notch.

Still, it’s helpful to have simple tools that bring us back into the present moment — the place where that imagined future stress isn’t actually happening. One of my favorite grounding tools is surprisingly simple:

Think about your feet.

To share this with you, I’m going to write it just like I might guide someone in session:

Go ahead and close your eyes if you feel comfortable doing so. Take a nice deep breath in… and let it out slowly. Good. Now take another deep breath, just like that, and let it out slowly. Let your muscles feel heavy — almost like they’re just hanging naturally off your bones.

Now, bring your attention to your feet. That’s all you need to do. Just notice them. Feel where they are. Maybe notice contact with the floor, your shoes, or your socks. Just stay there for a few moments.

When you’re ready, open your eyes and notice how you feel. Maybe a little more relaxed. Maybe a little calmer. Even a small shift counts.

Here’s why I like this technique: when we want to ground electricity, we send it into the earth. Anxiety often lives “up top” — in our thoughts, our chest, our nervous system. Bringing attention down to your feet gently shifts your focus and often creates a grounding, centering effect.

It’s simple, but effective.

I usually suggest practicing this briefly in the morning and at night — even just 10–15 seconds. That way, it stays familiar and easy to access when anxiety shows up during the day.

When it does, just pause and think about your feet.

It’s a small way to come back to the present moment — grounded, centered, and a little calmer.

If anxiety has been showing up more than you’d like lately, talking it through with someone can help. If you’d like support, feel free to reach out.