Anxiety can feel maddening, and not only because of the physical discomfort or intrusive thoughts that characterize it. Many people who suffer from anxiety know its “whack-a-mole” nature, and fear that any relief they feel is temporary. Our Tampa anxiety therapists are here to help.
When you’re a high achiever who is used to overcoming difficult things daily, it feels extra defeating to not be able to conquer your anxiety. You can’t will it away. Stuffing it will only make it worse. And yet, you’re desperate to not feel it because you’re afraid it will get in the way of what you want.
Even though you try to rationalize it, you notice that the anxious feelings are still there. If you’re someone who typically will work hard to get the results you want, you might find some of these tips helpful.
Counseling Seeking professional help is always recommended. As a Tampa anxiety therapist, my role is to help you understand the thoughts and situations that are contributing to your anxiety. Then, we work out strategies to help you manage it.
Data Collection Pay attention when you’re feeling anxious. What happened right before? Keep a list of notes somewhere to help you notice patterns. Doing this can help you identify your triggers. The more knowledge you have about how your anxiety works; the more efficient treatment will be.
Identify Your Needs Often we feel anxious because we have needs that aren’t being met, or we are afraid that the needs we have won’t be met in the future. In fact, our anxiety can act as a GPS system; it lets us know when we are off-course and may need to “recalculate.” Ask yourself why meeting your needs or not meeting your needs may be causing you some anxiety.
Practice Coping Before You Need It The brain takes time to learn to default to new skills. Further, you’re more likely to use tools like meditation, box breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation when you are somewhat familiar with them. Practicing these skills starts to form new neuropathways that you will have increased access to over time. Doing these activities before you need them will decrease the amount of effort needed to use these tools when you do need them.
Dealing with anxiousness is hard and takes commitment and tenacity. Our Tampa anxiety therapists are competent and love being a support in this area of mental health. If you can use some direction or more tips, reach out to set an appointment today.
