Anxiety. Fear. Panic. Overwhelm. Stress.

Sometimes we don’t even know we struggle with anxiety because either it’s been so long it feels normal and we assume everyone thinks and feels this way or we’ve becomes extremely good as hiding and accepting it. But just imagine if you felt more calm and rest in your body. Your negative thoughts about your self and others started to decrease; you were able to relax more around people or while alone, or you felt more balance with prioritizing what’s most important in your life. Imagine being able to challenge your inner critic and feel comfortable with who you are and the situation you are in. Wouldn’t that be a better life? 

Anxiety wears many hats. It can look different on different people and show up seemingly out of nowhere; however, that doesn’t mean it has no actual cause, trigger, and is uncontrollable. 

For some, anxiety may be an intense fear, panic, and immediate overwhelm where their brain and body go into complete fight or flight mode. You may feel the urge to run away, escape, or go into a rage - for others it may feel like your body completely shuts down and you are unable to communicate, engage, and do what you know you want to do. You may struggle being in public and around people (even if meeting friends or just going to the store).

Anxiety can cause your mind to go down a black hole of “what if’s”, worst case scenarios, and intense fear and overwhelm of being able to handle what is going on around you or what might happen. You might question your ability to do your job, be a good parent, feel safe, or trust people around you.

It also shows up frequently when we are alone, bombarding our thoughts with what we should have said, what we should have done and what we should do. It might make you question everything you said or did, and you ruminate, worry, and feel overwhelmed and frustrated. 

See, you get it. Anxiety isn’t limited to one person, one situation, or one type of behavior - but it is fear based, impacts us physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually. It significantly limits how we live our life. But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

It is possible to pull back layers and better understand where it comes from, how to challenge it, and decrease/minimize it to where it is controllable and you are better able to show up in your life the way you want. It is possible to feel confident in the person you are, the mom you are, the relationships you’re in, and the job role you have. 

Therapy helps you better understand it- not suppress it and push it down to where you are constantly fighting to keep it from popping back up. Let’s understand what’s below the surface and impacting your thoughts of anxiety, fear, and worry - It can get better!