Are you anxious?

It seems like a simple question, but in actuality, it is not always one that easy to answer.  So often anxiety fools you into thinking something else is going on, so you don’t even realize you are anxious.

Instead you think you are disinterested, tired, in danger, unavailable, or any other reason not to make yourself vulnerable to a negative or disappointing experience….in other words you respond to your anxiety by withdrawing from the threat and keeping yourself safe!  But sometimes this is reaction misfires and we keep ourselves from really experiencing our life.

Danger! Danger!

At its core anxiety is a healthy fear reaction and serves the valuable purpose of keeping us safe from actual harm. Anxiety makes itself known when there is a danger or a potential threat in your environment.  At these times, your sympathetic nervous system is triggered and your brain makes the split-second decision to respond by staying confronting the danger or running for your life.

Anxiety Lies

But for many of us, the anxiety sensors seem to be set too sensitive causing our internal responses to be triggered when there is really isn’t any need: no danger or potential threat.  But when you’re having an anxious reaction, it is so difficult to discern if the danger is truly worthy of the anxiety.

In other words, ANXIETY can make innocuous circumstances seem like actual dangerous ones.

Left alone anxiety takes root.  It grows and engulfs the healthy vibrant self.  It infuses all our interactions with fear.  Without treatment, we start experiencing things first through a lens of fear.

Anxiety is treatable.

You can learn to manage your anxiety and free yourself from its stranglehold.

Start living your life fully without the limitations that anxiety places on your everyday. Anticipate socializing and living with a calm optimism.  Stop worry and dread in its tracks.

You can develop and function through a new perspective – one where you move forward free from the bonds of anxiety.

So am I Anxious?

Anxiety can be hard to spot.  It’s not always a feeling of panic or a phobic reaction to something.  It can be and often is much more generalized.  No matter how it presents, the one constant is that it’s sole purpose is to keep you safe.

For some of us our anxiety has become extremely efficient and tends to run more on a preventative model of protection in addition to a real-time reactionary one – and this can be problematic.

Do any of these sound familiar?

• You’re laying in bed ready to sleep but your mind is racing with distressing thoughts lamenting something you said or did, despite no evidence of to support your self-critique.
• You have disturbing intrusive thoughts that you’ve done something…or that something is happening to you.
• You repeatedly check your locks or appliances, and still have a hard time trusting your actions.
• It is hard for you to relax and you often feel restless or tense with no clear rationale.
• You get so preoccupied with an unpleasant thought that you cannot control, you have a hard time focusing on anything else.
• You notice a twitch or random body movements that don’t always feel like are in your control.
• You suddenly get overwhelmed with panic and can only think about getting away from the place you’re in.
• Making everyday decisions become incredibly difficult and can take up big chunks of your time.
• You dread doing the wrong thing, making the wrong decision, looking foolish to such a degree it is hard to accomplish tasks, meet people, or form new relationships.

If any of these scenarios sound remotely familiar to you, you likely are living with some form of anxiety disorder.

You are not alone! You have a treatable condition.

You can start to be in control of your anxiety instead of having it control you.  The first step is reaching out and asking for help.