If I'm home I have a bunny that I will snuggle with and pet, I find that very grounding. I personally will hug myself and rock back and forth gently. Something about the movement is soothing. For anxiety attacks I really like using the senses, I.E. what is something you can see, feel, taste, touch, and smell

It's hard, a shower helps

I listen to music

I like to put in earbuds and listen to thunderstorm noises.

Silence an being in nature or around my dogs.

Simple movements like rocking or playing with my hands over being quick and jittery. Turning on binaural beats or gospel music as they are soft and don't use too many fast notes. Having an ESA pet helps too like my cat. Fidget toys that don't light up or make a lot of noise are great for when I think I might have a meltdown. Journaling too. All of these things have helped me prevent them before they can really start for a while now.

Honestly my meltdowns vary to why it happened but the options to what i do is : tapping my leg in beats or just repeatedly with two fingers (usually the middle and ring finger) ; humming, rocking back and forth, listen to music, dig my thumb nail in and out of my pointer fingers side (not a good one but one i do) ; play with fidgets, or make like beat box noises from my mouth

I have to be alone so will excuse myself, sometimes explosively but those around me know and are learning to be better at how I need space and to encourage me to leave triggering situations as sometimes I get paralysed, sometimes I need to hit things so I try to direct that to safe objects like sofa cushions, the fastest most effective ways for me to calm down is I’ll go on my phone and start aggressively writing down what I feel, in my notes app if it’s very irrational or mean and I’ll write it with the intention of sending it to friends/family after but sometimes change my mind but I usually talk my feelings through with people that I feel safe with after either way but might reword things when my head is clearer, after writing everything down which is sometimes just brief outbursting notes and other times I’ll spend hours writing an essay basically as I have so many thoughts I’ve kept in, then I’ll put on a YouTube video or go on tiktok and doom scroll basically often not paying attention to what I’m watching for a while, often I’m very tense my jaw all clenched just dissociating staring at my phone which doesn’t feel good but it doesn’t tend to take long before something catches my interest and distracts me and then I relax and regulate my nervous system. The healthier and more therapeutic method for me though is picking up my guitar or sitting at my piano and playing some songs I sing to since I sing and I always choose songs that resonate with my feelings, I’ll often cry while singing and have to pause and redo bits cuz my voice cracks but it helps me safely and controlled experience my emotions and work through them until they’re less big. I tend to be much calmer and more positive after this and I’ll play for 2 or so hours, I don’t usually talk to anyone much for the rest of the day and have to sleep to recover the energy lost but it usually makes things feel much less world ending like they often do and that’s nice for me. I do have a chronic dissociation issue though and sometimes I’ve been holding things in for too long and I need to let them out and that’s when I’ll shut myself in my room, turn off the lights and put on a sad playlist and I’ll silent scream sobbing to the music, replaying songs that hurt my heart more until I’ve exhausted myself utterly and it’s very painful and can make me ill after but it’s healthy for me to just get it out every so often, I need to erupt sometimes and it’s a way to decompress, when I’m too tired to go on or I have slowly lost the bad feelings and become more numb/comfortable and start getting easily distracted I then stop and make sure I drink a lot of water as my head always pounds and then I sleep for a long time and slowly readjust taking time to rest and care for myself for the next few days, I’ll again play guitar/piano the next day if not immediately after as well because I need that for self soothing and I’ll either text someone about my feelings still again or I’ll just write it down I have to write it, I’m very into writing anyways but if I don’t have the energy for that I’ll sometimes have a fake conversation explaining myself out loud just to myself as well. The quicker I can get to the writing and guitar phase the better as it brings me down and prevents physical damage and pain to my body with longer lasting side effects, whether that’s from me harming myself accidentally during an episode or my body aching and attacking me (I have autoimmune issues) from the stress of it after. I think it’s a very personal thing to figure out but art is the answer, sometimes you need easier faster solutions to avoid sh etc but whatever art form speaks to you is the way to truly get out of it and recalibrate. Oh also a little tip, when immediately trying to regulate ur nervous system to snap out of full blown meltdown/panic attack/ anxiety attack etc, try to go outside/just look somewhere where you’re taking in a wide view, look into the distance and take note of ur peripheral

*vision, focus on seeing everything far don’t look close to you as we’re programmed to focus on just small points what’s in front of us when we’re in danger so forcing your brain to observe widely can break that survivalist trance ur brain is stuck in and help you think clearer just calming ur nervous system self defence systems, anything that you wouldn’t be able to do if you were unsafe (lion chasing u etc) can do that, so eating something sour or cold, you wouldn’t be able to focus on those shocking overwhelming senses if you were running from a lion so it’s calming as ur telling ur brain you’re safe, I love to eat lemons cuz of this but take care of ur teeth, I’ve learnt that the hard way now, if u opt for lemons lick don’t bite if u can and rinse ur mouth out with water straight away afterwards and avoid brushing ur teeth for at least 2 hours to not brush the acid in, but those can be really effective immediate relief methods! Hope this helps 💕

I have something like a plushie, or in extreme cases, a pacifier/teether (it's not weird because it's no different than a teething bracelet)...

Music can help, but I have to get away from the situation and do some breathing exercises to get it to pass.