I have always been the person who has everything you could possibly need in her bag. Chronic overthinker here, so there’s usually something floating around in the bottom of my purse that someone else ends up needing before I do. For years that just meant a chaotic mix of half-used tissues, random pills, and whatever I grabbed on my way out the door without an actual anxiety bag.
It wasn’t until recently, after learning about “orienting” and how grounding through the five senses helps pull you back to the present moment, that I had the idea to build a real anxiety bag instead. Instead of hoping I’d remember what I packed, I built it around a system.
The last thing you want to do during an oncoming panic attack is fumble around in a bottomless sea of keys and hair ties looking for the one thing that might actually help.
How I Organize My Anxiety Bag
Instead of one loose pile at the bottom of my bag, I built my anxiety bag around a pouch for each sense using Baggu Go Pouches. If something is going to ground me, it’s usually going to do it through touch, smell, sight, sound, or taste, so that’s how everything is sorted now. When I feel a spiral starting, I don’t have to think about what to grab, I just know which pouch matches what I’m feeling.
Here’s what’s actually in my anxiety bag, pouch by pouch.
For Touch
This pouch is for anything that gives me something physical to focus on. My worry stone is just something to hold and fidget with when my hands need a job and my brain won’t stop. I also keep the acupressure rings from a Saje Wellness kit in here for nervous system regulation, and my handheld fan for when I’m feeling hot or like I’m about to pass out. That fan sounds small until you’re the person who suddenly needs air in the middle of a crowded room.
For Smell
The same Saje Wellness kit has an aromatherapy stick, and it’s in this pouch for grounding in the present moment. A specific scent I can pull out and breathe in is one of the fastest ways I have to interrupt a spiral.
For Sight
Just my sunglasses in here, for overstimulation and light sensitivity. Simple, but they do a lot of work.
For Sound
My noise-cancelling headphones live in this pouch, for the moments when overstimulation is the whole problem and I need to shut the world out for a minute. Sometimes I’m not even playing anything, I just need the noise gone.
For Taste
This is the fullest pouch. Gin Gin candies are in here for nausea, for when I feel like I’m going to throw up. LMNT handles dehydration. When coffee hits too strong and gives me anxiety, I take L-theanine within about 30 minutes of the caffeine. It turns the jitters into a flow state and grounded energy that feels a lot better than being wired. Everything stays organized in a Dosey pill case so I’m not digging through loose pills.
The last thing in this pouch is Dr. Bach’s Rescue Remedy pastilles in cranberry (skip the lemon, it’s disgusting). I have no idea how these work, but I know that they do.
I wear an Oura Ring, and I can actually watch my stress levels drop on my stats page after having one. The sourness of the cranberry flavor is also supposed to help bring you back to the present moment, which tracks with everything else in this bag.
The Items I Reach For Most
Out of everything in here, three items get pulled out constantly: the fan, the sunglasses, and the Rescue Remedy pastilles. Those are the ones I reach for almost on autopilot, before I’ve even fully clocked what’s happening in my body. If you’re not ready to build out a whole anxiety bag with five pouches, those three alone will cover a lot of ground.
Where to Start If You’re Building Your Own Anxiety Bag
My anxiety bag didn’t come together in a weekend, and you don’t need all ten items to start yours.
Think about which sense trips you up the most, whether it’s overstimulation, nausea, or just needing something to hold, and start with one pouch. You can always add the rest once you know what actually helps you come back to the present moment.
Mine will probably keep changing too. Figuring out what belongs in an anxiety bag is an ongoing thing, not something you land on once and never touch again.
