Do you want to know how to overcome anxiety? These 50 positive quotes on anxiety will show you how to calm your anxious thoughts.
We all experience some form of anxiety at one point or another. Anxiety can result from an external situation like losing your job, a relationship break-up, or worrying about a family member.
Anxiety can also come from within.
When I was a freshman in college, I convinced myself that I lacked the mental strength to deal with the challenges in my life. In hindsight, I suffered from untreated PTSD.
My mind was like a bathtub filled to the brim with water. It couldn’t handle much more than what it was already trying to cope with.
No matter what the cause, anxiety doesn’t feel good. It causes your mind to race. It keeps you awake at night. And it prevents you from focusing on things that are within your control.
Table of Contents
50 Positive Quotes to Help Overcome Anxiety
Words have power, whether spoken aloud or contemplated silently.
I selected these positive quotes on anxiety and grouped them into categories. Each category represents an action you can take to overcome anxiety.
Allow these positive quotes on anxiety to be a soothing balm for your anxious thoughts.
Quotes to Breathe
Sometimes all you can do is breathe. Breathing requires little effort. There’s no thought required. And deep breathing takes your nervous system from “fight or flight” mode to “rest and digest mode”.
- “Slow breathing is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: The anchor won’t make the storm go away, but it will hold you steady until it passes.” – Russ Harris
- “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two breaths.” – Etty Hillesum
- “I will breathe. I will think of solutions. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let my stress level break me. I will simply breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don’t quit.” – Shayne McClendon
- “Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “Conscious breathing is the best antidote to stress, anxiety and depression.” – Amit Ray
- “Take a deep breath. Inhale peace. Exhale happiness.” – A.D. Posey
Quotes to Relax Away Anxiety and Restore Inner Peace
Anxiety can be caused by weeks, months or years of personal neglect. Many of us go without ever stopping. Life is one long marathon. From the time we wake up until we lay our heads down to sleep. Anxiety is often the mind’s way of telling the body to slow down.
- “Make time to relax, refresh and refocus.” – Lailah Gifty Akita
- “Taking time to do nothing often brings everything into perspective.” – Doe Zantamata
- “Your body tells you when it is time to work or when it’s just time to relax and recuperate.” – Marcia Grant
- “The antidote to stress is relaxation and our society on the whole has a relaxation deficit disorder.” – Jay Winner
Anxiety Quotes From the Bible
When anxiety was at its worst, I didn’t believe I had the strength on my own to overcome it. I had no inner resources to pull from. Anxiety was a 2 ton weight, and I was trapped beneath it. The only thing I knew how to do was pray. It comforted me to believe there was a higher power holding me up, offering me peace. All I had to do was believe.
- “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4
- “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
- “Peace be still and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
- “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:29
- “Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7
Be in the Present Quotes
If allowed to roam aimlessly, the mind can transport you from the present, peaceful moment to one filled with distress.
One minute you’re sitting on the couch watching television. The next you’re reliving the most painful experience of your life. Or you’re fretting over some awful event that hasn’t even happened yet. And may never happen.
- “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa
- “Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith in what will be.” – Sonia Ricotte
- “Focus on opportunities not setbacks. Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t. Focus on the present moment, not the past or the future. Empower yourself!” – Akiroq Brost
- “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” – Amit Ray
- “Past and future are in the mind only. I am now.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
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Put Things into Perspective
When anxiety takes over, it’s easy to get caught up in your feelings. Panic, doubt, uncertainty, and worry overshadow more rational thoughts. Those feelings become your truth.
I used to constantly ask myself, “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”. Until it dawned on me that those very words created anxiety.
- “We create with our consciousness. What we think about, pay attention to, focus on, and choose to believe…whatever goes on in our mind, is what becomes our reality.”― Anthon St. Maarten
- “There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” – Epictetus
- “Don’t stress the could haves. If it should have, it would have.” – Unknown
- “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou
- “Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” – Swedish proverb
Change Your Focus Quotes
Have you ever just tried to stop worrying? It’s damn near impossible. In fact, I’ve yet to figure out a way to turn off my thoughts. But refocusing. I can do that. And so can you.
Have you ever been distracted? I mean, you’re just sitting there trying to focus on whatever it is you’re focusing on. Then something or someone gets your attention. Now whatever you were focusing on a minute ago takes a back seat to the distraction.
In the same way, you can refocus your thoughts intentionally. Just think about something else.
- “One of the most effective ways to overcome anxiety is to try to shift the focus of attention away from self and toward others.” – Dalai Lama
- “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson
- “The difference between misery and happiness depends on what we do with our attention.” – Sharon Salzberg
- “Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
- “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
Quotes for Overcoming Anxiety
One of the biggest lessons on anxiety I’ve learned is not to fear it. Anxiety isn’t a sign that you’re going crazy. Your body and mind are functioning as they should.
Anxiety is an internal alarm. Sort of how a carbon monoxide detector can sense the deadly gas, even when we can’t see it. Like an alarm, anxiety notifies us of a problem that needs correcting. We just need to figure out what triggered the alarm.
- “Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not imagine, not obsess. Just breathe and have faith that everything will work out for the best.” – Unknown
- “If stress and anxiety are so great that you can’t even imagine a calm, clear mind, that indicates you are reaching your coping limits, and need to begin something like meditation just for the stress reduction benefits.” – Deepak Chopra
- “You are not alone, and the ACCEPTANCE of an emotional problem brings total RECOGNITION of the changes allowing CONTROL back into your life.” – Ray J. Dodkins, Acceptance, Recognition, and Control (A.R.C.) Against Depression
- “If it’s not going to matter in five years, don’t spend five minutes being upset about it.” – Unknown
Quotes to Accept Reality
When I was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a rare autoimmune disease that could be dangerous if left untreated, I had a hard time accepting it. How could this happen to me?
The more I fought it, the more anxious it made me. It was only when I accepted my diagnosis that I was able to focus on finding ways to better manage my disease.
- “My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” – Michael J. Fox
- “Until you accept the reality of your present situation, you can’t take the next step forward.” – Douglas Poole
- “When you learn to accept fear, you cease making a catastrophe of it. Then it ceases to be your master.” Nathaniel Branden
- “Today, I will accept my circumstances even if I lack direction and insight. I will remember to do things that make myself and others feel good during those times. I will trust that clarity will come of its own accord.” – Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go”
- “Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” – Michael J. Fox
Quotes About Change and Growth
Accept that you have anxiety. Then adapt. Find ways of managing it. There’s so much online information about how to manage the symptoms of anxiety. You don’t have to suffer needlessly.
- “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of modern mindfulness
- “The best use of creativity is imagination. The worst use of creativity is anxiety.” – Deepak Chopra.
- “If you can adapt to and balance in a world that is always moving and unstable, you learn how to become tolerant to the permanence of change and difference.” – B.K.S Iyengar
- “Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.” – Jessica Hagedorn
Quotes to Take Action
Taking action can mean different things depending on the circumstance. It could mean tackling something you’ve been procrastinating about. Or facing something you’ve been avoiding because it’s too painful to face.
Facing your fears will give you the courage to face more of your fears.
As you build momentum you’ll get stronger and stronger. One day, you’ll look back and your anxiety will be a landmark in your rear view mirror.
Taking time to read these positive quotes on anxiety is a step in the right direction!
- “Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” – Walter Anderson
- “If you hear a voice within you say “You cannot paint.” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” Vincent Van Gogh
- “Do the best you can under the circumstances and never let fear control you and make you freeze.” – Vera Nazarian, Qualify
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King
- “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln
- “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
- “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin
Summary
Fear and anxiety are normal human reactions to stressful situations. Anxiety is just a sign that something is happening in your life that needs your attention. Refer to these positive quotes on anxiety to face your fears, become more proactive, and take the necessary steps to overcome anxiety.
