Decreasing Anxiety in 7 Steps: Step 7

Here we are! The final Step! In Steps 1 and 2 of this blog series, I shared some information about anxiety including what it is, what it is not, and provided some lists for you to cross reference potential symptoms and how it’s showing up for you in your life. In Step 3 I discussed strategies of reflection to further increase your awareness and attention to learn more about how anxiety is unique to your own experience. Then, in Step 4, I provided a detailed list of coping skills that you can use to manage and decrease the effects of anxiety on your day to day life that can be used on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis and of course anywhere in between. After learning about the coping skills, in Step 5 we discussed implementing your awareness, coping skills, and reflection strategies and any barriers you might be beginning to notice in doing so and about the importance of repetition of skills in Step 6. You might be wondering, what’s left?

Step Seven: Execution

This step is about living the life you want to live. Anxiety can get in the way of being able to act on things to be the kind of person you want to be at heart. On an ideal day, who do you truly want to be? What kind of person do you want to be? What kind of things do you want to achieve, daily, weekly, monthly, and annually? Short term as well as long term? If all things were equal and you were able bodied and minded, how would you be different than you have been?

It’s important to identify what lifestyles and values are important to you, and to notice how living a life led by anxiety and based in fear is different than a life led by your values, wishes, and dreams. There are many texts and types of coaching available to help you individualize your goals for yourself and your future, but more importantly, for your now. Every instant is ever changing to be in the past: all we really have is the present. How do you want to spend it?

Here are some books that might help you hone in on identifying what your needs, values, and strengths are a bit more, to get a clear picture of who you want to be and how you want life to be in your mind.

Awakening the Heroes Within: Twelve Archetypes to Help Us Find Ourselves and Transform Our World by Carol S. Pearson

Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self Discovery Guide by David Daniels

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

Of course, there are also types of therapy such as group, individual, or couples that could also be helpful in clarifying your goals for yourself, within the family, or within a partnership(s). Therapists with Solutions Focused orientations or viewpoints are especially helpful in focusing on your strengths and goals to support and empower you in moving forward and creating a life that’s worth living and enjoying for you, personally. Based on your goals, what’s important to you, and what you want or need.

In addition to some soul searching and goal setting, continuing to practice the self care skills that you’ve been implementing and fine tuning over these past seven weeks will help you work through and overcome your current anxiety struggles. Further, it will help prevent them from returning, especially when regular use of your skills or toolbox is coupled with ongoing practice of awareness of warning signs that you might be experiencing anxiety or that it might be increasing again. Taking those as signs to increase your coping skills, reflection time, and check in system with your supports is a great way to help you get back on track with your goals in managing anxiety and living your best life the fastest. And, just because you’ve done this work and know the things, doesn’t mean you won’t ever need more support.

The most recent research I’ve seen shared that up to 80% of American citizens are clinically diagnosable with some type of mental health disorder in the course of a 12 month year. Eighty percent!!! It’s only natural that some of that time, when a person is struggling with mental health so much that it’s disrupting their regular life, they need a bit of extra support. Whether that’s for a few sessions, a few months, or even a few years is a totally normal, understandable need. If you find yourself in the position of wanting a bit more support, my best advise is: Act on it. Reach out to friends, family, and professional supports. I’ve had many clients whose emotional support comes from physical focused professionals such as massage therapists, reiki masters, chiropractors, and even dentists! Just because they have a job focused on one part of your body, doesn’t mean that they’re interested in neglecting to discuss your emotional or mental world. Letting them know the type of stress you might be under can even help them to better understand what your body might be going through under stress and help them to help you even more.

Dear Future Self

You’ve spent the past seven weeks honing in on yourself, focusing on getting to know your struggles and needs better than ever. Rather than fall into the trap of believing that after all of this work, you won’t forget your needs and what you’ve learned, I would recommend completing this work with a project. A project that you get to choose! Based on the coping skills you’ve been trying out or are still wanting to try out, ask yourself what makes the most sense to kind of summarize this information for yourself. A way that you can look back and recall what you learned, what it was like to pour time and energy into your wellness, and walk out healthy, wellness oriented steps to overcome anxiety.

For some that might be writing a letter to your future self simply summarizing what you learned based on each Step, 1-7. For others that might be creating an art project using symbols and words to represent the before and after. It could even be song, lyric, or poetry writing that can speak even further to the emotions of the struggle and pointed reminder of why this work was so important. I would recommend that you also include a way to note warning signs too, if possible. What were signs this go around that you were anxious and needed more? Find a way to make note of that so that your future self can more easily recall this information and help yourself recreate this sooner, faster, and better the next time around.

Congratulations on all of your hard work and dedication to yourself and your wellness. I know it isn’t easy, and can come at a cost. The costs aren’t always easy to pay, but I hope you trust as I do, that you are worth the investment.

Take care.