We all have ways to soothe our anxieties away - some more healthy than others.
For some it's about interrupting it through physical stimulation: a run, a hug, touching something comforting, sex or eating.
For others it's with more mental ways: mindfulness, gaming, gambling or reading.
For some it's using numbing or exciting substances like alcohol, drugs, nicotine ("I'm so stressed, I need a cigarette/glass of wine/joint/valium").
Personally I'm partial to apps on my phone and a glass of wine, and of course reading. And I can tell when it gets out of hand.
What all of these ways have in common, the healthy and the unhealthy ones alike, is that they only take care of the symptoms, i.e. the anxiety.
Anxiety, like any other emotion, is usually not a problem in itself - unless we refuse to look at its causes: then it will tend to develop a life of its own.
In most cases, our anxieties are about real or perceived problems we have. A job we don't like, a bully at work, someone's health issues, our difficulties connecting with others, the list is long.
Most of the time, we get away with ignoring the underlying issues. They are not so acute that we can't push them away. But when we bury our feelings, we bury them alive - they don't go away, they fester in the underground of our mind.
Eventually we spend more time soothing than living. More time pushing away than solving.
That's a good time to ask yourself "what feelings am I avoiding? what are they about? what would I rather be doing? how do I want to live?"
It's also a good time to ask for help, when the soothing has become an addictive behaviour you can't control anymore, interfering with the rest of your life.
Please reach out - there is nothing shameful about telling a friend that you are struggling, and enlisting them to support you in regaining independence from your anxiety.