Overcoming Anxiety
It’s hard to remember the person you used to be.
You’re overwhelmed with the mental gymnastics…
“I just need to get all the dental/doctor/vet appointments scheduled; then, I can be present.”
“Once I complete this paper, I can get some sleep.”
“I just need to start exercising again. Then, I’ll be less stressed.”
“Once I get the grocery order placed and have some decent food for meals, I will feel like a better mom.”
“I just need to be intimate with my partner. I mean… I want to… so, I should!”
“If I could just get those reports done for work, it would put my mind at ease.”
“I just need to do the bills, and then I will rest – maybe take a nap.”
Your body is on high alert.
Dizziness…
Nausea…
Headaches…
Ringing in your ears…
Fatigue…
Chronic pain…
A racing heart…
Flushed and sweating…
You feel resistance in every fiber of your body!
Or maybe you feel nothing at all.
Numb…
Desperately trying to remember how it feels to be happy…
Wondering if you will ever feel that again…
I bet you doubt, criticize, and guilt yourself a lot.
“I should not have said that!”
“What if they think I’m stupid?”
“Oh, no… I’ve disappointed them again. I can see it in their faces.”
This constant cycle of fear and insecurity results in avoidance, causing you to check out of everything important to you: family, work… life.
Here’s how therapy can help.
Learn that your emotions are safe.
It is part of the human experience to have emotions. They provide us with information about what is happening to us and our experience. Understanding the emotional language to accurately express your experience to others is vital in improving communication with them.
Feel the sensations in your body.
A thought pops into your head. It causes emotions you have assigned as meaningful to the thought and immediately have sensations in your body as a response. It all happens so quickly, and just like that, you are in a spiral of anxious “what if’s” and distracted from the present moment.
In therapy, you will learn to get back into your body and stay there. You will have safety in exploring your feelings and assigning meaningful language to help you connect to yourself and others. Imagine finally feeling seen and understood because you have developed the courage to stay in your body and the language to accurately share what you are feeling!
Discover your authentic self.
The anxiety, anticipation, panic, and fear experiences you are feeling are very real. They could be due to many different factors, including excessive stress, thinking patterns, existing coping skills that no longer serve you, past experiences, or underlying physical or emotional challenges.
We will discover the core fears at the root of your anxiety, and you will develop different responses that are more aligned with your values and allow you to stay present and participate in your life.
No more checking out. No more numbing. No more avoiding or procrastinating.
Life doesn’t have to be this way.
I know it’s exhausting to keep going like this:
The what-ifs…
The mind-reading…
The catastrophizing…
The replaying things over and over again in your head…
It’s time to break the cycle. You can live in the present moment again!