80 Positive Affirmations for Anxiety + Printable Anxiety Affirmation Cards for Kids

Positive Affirmations for Anxiety: short positive affirmations can be a powerful tool to deal with anxious thoughts. In today’s post, we will learn about the power of positive affirmations for anxiety relief. We will share a list of affirmations and positive phrases you can formulate in different situations. We will also present our affirmation cards for anxious kids.

Understanding Anxiety

Anxiety is an adaptive emotion. Feeling anxious is normal and we all feel worried or anxious at times.

Anxiety is an alarm system in our body that anticipates threats.

But anxiety becomes a problem when:

• our body alarm is triggered too often
• it responds to harmless everyday situations, or
• the response is so intense that it affects how we function.

Common anxiety symptoms include:

• feeling restless or tense
• feelings of panic, danger, or threat
• worried thoughts
• difficulty focusing
• increased heart rate
• rapid breathing
• fatigue
• trembling
• sleep problems

Beck’s Cognitive Model of Anxiety

Beck’s cognitive model, initially developed to explain depression, proved later useful in understanding anxiety.

Beck believed that anxiety disorders are characterized by dysfunctional danger-related automatic thoughts about:

• The self (“I’m vulnerable”)
• The world or environment (“The world is a threatening place”)
• The future (“I have no control over the future”)

Cognitive theory emphasizes that thoughts influence our emotions and behaviors, so cognitive therapy focuses on changing thoughts to alter feelings and behaviors.

Note: If your child struggles with anxiety issues, it is essential to consult your healthcare professional. Nothing you read online can be a substitute for professional help.

Your doctor or mental health professional will:

• rule out other reasons for common symptoms of anxiety in children (e.g., headaches, tummy aches)
• assess if you need support from a mental health professional for a psychological evaluation

The two main treatment options for anxiety disorder are medication and psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective form of psychotherapy for anxiety disorders.

Understanding Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are positive statements that we tell ourselves for self-motivation or to challenge negative thoughts. Self-affirmations remind us of our self-worth and adequacy in situations that we perceive as threatening.

What Are the Benefits of Positive Affirmations?

Research suggests that self-affirmation can have many benefits:

• Mitigate the effects of stress
• Enhance positive mood
• Reduce depressive rumination
• Enhance sports performance
• Promote pro-social behavior
• Improve problem-solving abilities under stress
• Improve academic performance in negatively stereotyped groups
• Improve your self-esteem (note: people with low self-esteem problems may feel worse when practicing this type of positive self-talk because it contradicts their deep beliefs and they may end up focusing more on their negative beliefs.)

In today’s article, we are going to focus specifically on how to use affirmations as an anxiety-coping tool.

What are Anxiety Affirmations?

Anxiety affirmations are self-statements that we can use in situations that we perceive as a threat. Those stressful situations may trigger negative thoughts that we can question with statements that

• challenge unhelpful thoughts
• focus on our strengths
• highlight intrinsic personal values
• remind us of calming strategies to help us cope with physical symptoms
• contribute to a positive mindset

Do Anxiety Affirmations Work?

Research suggests that affirmations help focus on sources of self-worth which would diminish the impact of threats on our well-being.

The effectiveness of affirmations may depend on various factors, including motivation and ability to improve, personal situation, the existence of a real threat that needs to be challenged, the type of value highlighted in the affirmation, the individual’s beliefs, the specific wording of the affirmations, and the frequency and consistency with which they are used.

Very interesting research by Cascio et al. used neuroimaging methods to explore the neural pathways associated with positive self-affirmations:

• Brain’s reward system and positive valuation system
  Reflecting on core values and rewarding experiences would engage neural systems associated with reward and positive valuation (Ventral striatum (VS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC))
• Self-related processing network
  Reflecting on personal successes would engage neural systems associated with self-related processing (Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC))

The results showed exposure to self-affirmations produced increases in brain systems associated with positive valuation systems.

Time dimension (past experiences vs. future goals) also influenced brain activity. Participants who reflected on future-oriented core values displayed significantly greater activity in both the valuation network and the self-processing network versus the control group.

Best Anxiety Affirmations for Kids

These are some examples of daily affirmations that we can use to challenge self-defeating thoughts and negative self-talk to promote positive thinking and more realistic statements in daily life situations.

Helpful Daily Affirmations for Anxiety

1. I can control how my thoughts make me feel
2. I can control my emotions
3. I can change bad thoughts into good thoughts
4. I can change my worried thoughts into helpful thoughts
5. I can turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts
6. Thoughts are not facts, I will keep this thought only if it serves me
7. I will look for a happy thought
8. I can change my thoughts and make things better
9. Today I´m going to have a great day
10. I am feeling relaxed
11. I am going to be happy today
12. I will let worry go
13. I can (totally) do this
14. I will take one step at a time
15. The world is a good place
16. All is good in my world
17. The future will bring good things
18. Life is a beautiful gift
19. I enjoy the good things in life
20. I am strong
21. I will try my best
22. I am enough
23. I know how to solve this problem
24. I am going to make a plan
25. I will learn something from this situation
26. I trust myself
27. I trust change will bring good things
28. This stressful moment will pass

Affirmations for Fear(*)

(*) Physical or psychological perceived threats trigger anxiety

29. I am safe
30. I am brave
31. I can move past this situation
32. I can overcome my fears
33. I am in control

Positive Self-Statements for Social Anxiety

34. I can breathe in and show my confidence
35. I will say hello to somebody new
36. I can cope with being around people
37. I can enjoy this party
38. I will feel comfortable in class today
39. Hanging out with friends will be nice
40. Conversations are fun
41. Nobody is judging me
42. I’m lovable
43. People like my company
44. Being around myself is nice
45. I can relax in front of other people
46. I like meeting people

Affirmations for Anxiety symptoms / Feelings of Panic / Feelings of Tension

47. I do my breathing exercises and I manage to control my anxiety
48. I feel anxious but I can cope with the situation
49. I am feeling calmer
50. I can calm down taking deep breaths
51. I am calm
52. My body is relaxing
53. I will practice my breathing techniques
54. I will tense and relax my muscles
55. I spread out my toes, then pretend to pick up a pea with my toes (relaxing a part of my body)
56. I tense and relax my fist
57. I focus on my breathing
58. This will pass too
59. I am relaxing each part of my body, from my head to my toes
60. It’s okay to feel a bit anxious.
61. Everybody worries, it’s just normal
62. I breathe in and out. Each breath out takes a bit of tension away
63. My breathing exercise helps me relax
64. My feelings of anxiety will pass

Affirmations for Test-Taking Anxiety

65. I am prepared for this test
66. I’ve studied for this test and I’m well prepared
67. A test doesn’t measure my worth
68. I will pass this test
69. Tests are kind of fun and can show how much I’ve learned
70. Deep breathing relaxes me and helps me think better
71. It’s not about the result; it’s about learning useful things
72. I am a great student
73. I will focus and nail the exam
74. I will achieve my goals
75. I will feel relaxed while I take my test

Public Speaking Affirmations

76. I am delivering an important message (to my classmates)
77. My message will have a positive impact on my audience (classmates)
78. I feel confident
79. I have important things to share
80. I’ve worked hard and I want to share what I’ve learned

How to Practice Affirmations with Kids

The following articles and resources will guide you on how to practice affirmations with kids:

• Anxiety Affirmation Cards for Kids
• Tips on How to Practice Positive Affirmations with Kids
• Positive Affirmation Cards (Cute Animal Designs)
• Letter Tracing Affirmations for Kids

Anxiety Affirmation Cards for Kids

Other Anxiety Resources

• 43 Anxiety Activities for Kids
• Drawing Activities for Anxiety
• School Anxiety
• Anxiety and Autism: Triggers and Calming Strategies

Empirical Studies / Research on Effects of Self-Affirmations

• Cascio CN, O’Donnell MB, Tinney FJ, Lieberman MD, Taylor SE, Strecher VJ, Falk EB. Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation.
• Cohen GL, Sherman DK. The psychology of change: self-affirmation and social psychological intervention.
• Creswell, J. D., Welch, W. T., Taylor, S. E., Sherman, D. K., Gruenewald, T. L., & Mann, T. (2005). Affirmation of Personal Values Buffers Neuroendocrine and Psychological Stress Responses.
• Matthew J. Easterbrook, Peter R. Harris, David K. Sherman. Self-affirmation theory in educational contexts