Anne Hathaway Shared How She Uses Fire as a Coping Mechanism for Stress and Anxiety

Coping mechanisms for stress and anxiety vary from person to person. For some of us, writing down our thoughts, worries and stressors is a good way to get it all out of our heads. For actress Anne Hathaway, she’s found an extra step that helps her.

Hathaway revealed to Town and Country that her coping mechanism doesn’t just include a pen and paper but also fire. Hathaway said she sets a timer on her phone for 12 minutes with a candle nearby.

“You spew it all out. You do not read it,” she said. “The timer goes off, you tear it out of the book, and you light it on fire.”

Journaling can relieve pent up stress and help you let go of negative thoughts, but, for Hathaway, it’s also a symbolic cleansing of negative emotions. “All of this energy, this angst, this rage—everything is smoke,” Hathaway said.

If you’re interested in trying Hathaway’s method, she left a bit of advice on her Instagram: “If you try the fire thing, please use common sense when burning your pages.”

Research has shown keeping a journal can improve your mood. It can help you keep track of symptoms or triggers for a mood shift or anxiety. You can also use a journal to vent your negative thoughts and then challenge those thoughts through positive self-talk.

Hathaway’s coping mechanism may be unexpected, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work. If you like the aspect of destroying your worries on paper but don’t want to mess with fire, you can try ripping the paper up or shredding it.

We were curious what other “unusual” coping skills our mental health community uses to cope with or “get out” negative thoughts, so we asked them to share theirs. Maybe you’ll find one helpful, too.

Here’s what they shared:

What would you add?

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Image via Creative Commons/Mexicaans fotomagazijn