Overwhelming, overpowering, uncontrollable, never-ending, helpless, there seems no end to the list of superlatives that we can use to describe how powerless we feel in face of our anxiety. It can see that there is nothing we can do. After all how do you stop your boss pressuring you, or your children fighting, or your mother in law judging you, there will never be enough hours in the day to get through the mental to do list that you set yourself.
Managing stress and managing anxiety starts with a simple step knowing 
your enemy. Understanding what makes us anxious and stresses us is the key to being able to deal with the problem. It is of course unlikely to be a single thing. It’s easy to spot some things the children fighting, the endless trail of washing leading to the laundry basket (but not in it), the overflowing inbox at work. Yet there are less obvious ones and these can be easily over looked or dismissed for a later time. For example you are anxious that you and your partner don’t seem to spend time together anymore, you notice that you don’t have time to go out with friends anymore because you are too busy or tired. Taking some time to listen quietly to the worries you are building up is very important and not a waste of time but rather an investment if you are to tackle these problems.
As you identify the stressors in your life you will be able to start stress management. A few may be able to be dismissed, that is when you see them you will realise that you are not really worried about them and you will be able to safely put them aside.
Some will feel impossible to tackle you can’t change who your boss is but there will be small things that you can do, you can change how you approach them. You can change what you do with your breaks, perhaps you have flexibility in the order you do tasks so that you can make the day work for you better. Each specific situation is likely to have things you cannot change and things that you can change. You should exercise whatever little opportunity you have for change that you have and see if things improve. Even someone who has a job where they can vary nothing has the opportunity to choose how they feel about it for example “I dislike packing these boxes, but because I do I get to …” Hopefully by extension you can see how this can be extended to any area of your life.
If you were to look at the lives of people who were stressed or very anxious one thing one strikes you, that very often they are much more concerned for others than they are for themselves. So a second key plank of your recovery is about allowing yourself some time for yourself. That might be a seat in front of your favourite TV program or a walk round the block, what isn’t important the point is it is something which is chosen by you and is for you. It has to be something that is going to help you recharge your batteries. Finding something that really relaxes you makes a fantastic antidote to stress and anxiety.
Yet all of these turn down the background count what can you do if you are stressed and anxious now. One of the simplest things is to take charge of your breathing, while you may feel that your breathing is just fine, often when we are stressed and anxious it gets faster and shallower. In extreme cases this will cause a panic attack, but it will be unpleasant even in mild cases. You need to slow your breathing down, count breath noticing the breath fully filling your lungs then hold for a moment then breath out fully, then the cycle begins again, you should be roughly breathing 3/5 times a minute. (But this is a guide only if you feel light headed or ill stop at once.)
You may find that talking therapies like counselling very effective in addressing the stress and anxiety and the issues that surround them, perhaps talking them through will help you to see what it is you want to address. There is help available and while you can help yourself perhaps the help of a counsellor will make the journey easier.