24 Feb Managing Anxiety Series (Post 1)
Anxiety is a common, and at times perfectly normal and appropriate human emotion.
So, let me begin by encouraging you to think about anxiety NOT as something that needs to be banished or eliminated, but as something that can, at times, be a useful warning sign and at other times, might need to be held to account.
Step 1 in managing anxiety, then, is acceptance. It’s OK to feel anxious (and / or worried or stressed or afraid or any of the similar forms of unpleasant emotions). Acceptance doesn’t mean giving in, and allowing it to overwhelm you, but rather, simply facing up to the realities of being a human in a messy world which means, some situations will inevitably be anxiety provoking.
Accepting this can be the first step on managing anxiety; at the very least, what we want to stop is becoming anxious about be anxious, becoming upset about being upset!
Instead, accepting anxiety allows us to keep things in perspective, avoid spiralling panic and catastrophising, and the (coming soon) taking more affirmative action to contain the worry and (ideally) begin to move on towards taking whatever positive and constructive action might be helpful.
Next time you notice you’re feeling anxious, then, allow the anxiety, accept the feelings, be kind to yourself within that situation, and see if that non-judgemental approach might be more helpful than how you’ve observed your feelings in the past.
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PPS: if you’d like to delve deeper into strategies for managing anxiety, you might like to explore my Audible audiobook series (including Habits for Managing Anxiety) which are all FREE for Audible subscribers. Just search for “Dr Tim Sharp” or “Habits for Managing Anxiety” and … listen away : )