* Dear Ryan:

I usually don’t reply to members other than the original poster on any one thread, but in this case what I suggest to you may help Lauren because your anxiety is in the same context as hers: moving to a big city, in her case, a huge city: London!

Here is what I suggest: (1) Make your apartment in the city as comfortable as possible. When anxious in your new home, find comfort in the touch and feel of familiar furniture, like a sofa, and in familiar visuals, like paintings or framed photographs that you may want to hang on the walls.

(2) Keep some of the routine you enjoyed before the big move. I think of Routine as the best, non-pharmaceutical Remedy for anxiety.

(3) Go out for a walk every day, be it around your apartment or in a park, a bit of nature.

(4) Find a socializing opportunity, a friendly place where people come together to relax and enjoy interacting with other people, and go there a few times per week, think of it as a Social Treat.

(5) There are plenty of free online literature, books and magazines on Mindfulness, as well as guided meditations on the theme that you can download for free. Mindfulness has been incorporated into therapy in the western world, for many years. There are mindfulness exercises and practices that you can adopt on a daily basis.

anita