Steps for Overcoming Anxiety
So you have been dealing with anxiety for a while now? This disease has wiggled its way into your mind and now you don't know how to rid yourself of it?
Luckily, with the right approach and effort, you can minimize the anxiety in your life. Let's break down exactly what it is going to take to put you back on the road to peace and serenity.
1. Redirect Your Focus
If you are someone who suffers from anxiety, it is highly likely that you get wrapped up in events of the past and events yet to come. Unfortunately, for many, this is second nature and a hard habit to tame.
If you are focusing on events of the past or events of tomorrow you will not have enough energy to tackle the problems of today. Rather than thinking about how poorly a future event may go, aim to redirect that energy to ensuring your success by doing whatever you can do today.
It may take time for you to redirect your mental focus. To begin, you may take baby steps. One day at a time, promise yourself you will focus on the day at hand. Over time, this practice will become easier and it will become evidently beneficial to your anxiety levels.
Both the past and the future are out of your hands yet today is yours to conquer.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Mathew 6:34
2. Remove Doubt
How many times have you doubted your ability to overcome your anxiety? Looking back on these moments, how did that doubt affect your motivation? Did you wish to continue with all of your hard efforts or did it seem more reasonable to throw in the towel and indulge in immediate comforts?
One of the ways anxiety notoriously maintains its grip on you is by implanting the worry that you will never recover. Anxiety effectively makes you worry that you will never stop worrying which in turn fuels negative behaviors.
Believe you can overcome your struggles and you are halfway there. Believing in your ability to recover is absolutely essential for success.
Without faith, you will lose your motivation, and without motivation, you will sit idly and be controlled by your anxiety until you take action. Cultivate the confidence and belief that you can overcome anxiety and relentlessly persevere.
Always remember that there was someone worse off than you before who made it through to the other side. If they can do it, why can't you?
“Change your thoughts and you change your world." - Norman Vincent Peale
3. Rest, Relax, Repeat
If you are entangled in the web of anxiety, this should be your new motto.
Perhaps you are the kind of person who needs to be productive and wasting time further gives you anxiety. It is essential to distinguish the difference between relaxing and being lazy!
Relaxing is productive when done appropriately and absolutely essential for further delaying the burnout anxiety has you headed straight towards.
For those of you dealing with anxiety, do an honest evaluation of your life and find an activity that you could be rid of temporarily. Use this time to rest and relax and give your body and mind the peace they need.
If you continue to make rest a non-priority, you are headed straight towards adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue will further deplete your energy and even increase your stress levels by offsetting important hormones within your body.
For those of you who are both exhausted and anxious, you may already be experiencing symptoms of adrenal fatigue. If you are, it is crucial that you further educate yourself on how to overcome this complex health condition.
4. Stop Walking The Line
It can be extremely easy to slip up in your routine once you start to experience improvements in your well being.
Part of you may miss the vices that you had to forfeit to improve your anxiety levels. Naturally, when symptoms begin to improve, it is easy to test the waters and see what you can get away with. Perhaps you begin to drink more coffee again, stay up later, or consume more alcohol.
Quickly you begin to remember how much you enjoy your vice and indulgence becomes more frequent. With increased indulgence, all of a sudden you find your anxiety levels picking back up, and you are back at square one.
Does this sound familiar? Two steps forward, two steps back.
If you wish to experience long-term recovery, you need to apply long-term effort. It is better to go slowly in a straight line than it is to go quickly in a circle.
It is crucial you establish whether your vices are worth the anxiety they produce. If they are not, give them up for good, not just for a few weeks. Kicking a habit takes time, effort, and patience. Anxiety hates these virtues and wants you to stay close to your vice so that it can remain in your life forever.
5. Inaction
Inaction is the kryptonite to your personal potential. Your ability to recover from anxiety is no different and inaction needs to go out the window.
The longer you sit idly and allow anxiety to control your life from the passenger seat, the worse it will get. Over time your anxious beliefs begin to look more like fact to your brain than the irrational thoughts they typically are.
Are you currently doing everything in your power to get better? Do you have an action plan to overcome your anxiety?
For those of you serious about getting better, you need to develop an action plan today.
“One today is worth two tomorrows." - Benjamin Franklin
Your action plan should consist of exercises you can do to reduce anxiety, beneficial supplements to try, and lifestyle factors that need improvement.
By living with hope, eliminating your vices, and taking action one day at a time, the peaceful life you have been dreaming of is within reach.