Decreasing Anxiety in 7 Steps: Step 1

One of the biggest reasons my clients tell me they decide to come in for counseling is because they are struggling with Anxiety. Whether anxiety has kept them from work, affected their test scores, or even changed their personalities, what these folks tend to have in common is this: a fear of their anxiety.

In this 7 part blog series, I will be sharing information about anxiety and steps that you can take on your own to managing it. Before we can really work on decreasing or getting rid of anxiety using therapy, reflection, coping skills or other strategies, we have to understand what anxiety is and what anxiety is not.

Step One: Psychoeducation

Let's start by breaking down common misconceptions and misunderstandings that people have most often declared to me to be part of their struggle with anxiety, and learn a bit more about what this thing really is.

Anxiety is: an emotion. An early warning system that tells your brain that something is wrong. To pay attention. To make a change. To remember. To not forget.

Anxiety is not: proof of your inability to succeed. Testament to the fact that you can't get something done. Fact that you can't and won't achieve your dreams. A reason to not try, give up, and belittle yourself for doing so.

Anxiety is: similar to excitement. It is a little known fact that the somatic or physical feelings that you feel when you're anxious are similar or identical in many ways to what you feel when you're excited. It's all about how we choose to interpret what our body is telling us.

Anxiety is not: random. Out of nowhere. For no reason. I have yet to meet a client who had anxiety that wasn't based in a valid, real life concern or struggle(s). I have met many clients who had no idea what that struggle was or that by avoiding or not tending to certain problems, that they were in fact perpetuating the anxiety.

Anxiety is: when we aren't living actively in the present moment. Our minds are some place other than being grounded and attentive to what is going on right here and now. When we are anxious, we're living in the future. When we're rooted, centered, and focused, we are living in the now.

Take a moment to think about how you may or may not hold similar beliefs about your anxiety, and how those beliefs may differ.

In my next post, I'll invite you to begin working on taking another step towards working on anxiety by learning more about your specific experiences.

#change #anxiety