I remember a time during my anxiety disorder days where everything revolved around my anxiety, and an unhelpful anxiety habit was built. Like a shadow that never left even when the sun went down, anxiety was my best friend and my worst enemy.
Best friend because I had an unconscious need to keep it alive and around, enemy because it was keeping me from experiencing life the way I truly wanted to.
I thought about it, I talked about it, I behaved according to its permissions, I was it you could say. This is why the words ‘you are more than anxiety’ must be understood more deeply. Because under the identity of feeling like you are anxiety are all the symptoms/effects like:
- catastrophizing
- distracting from a feeling or thought or person
- negative social circle of friends
- constant fear of what may arise next
And much more.
The important thing to understand when it comes to this anxiety habit is that when you have moments when the shadow isn’t present you must accept and build on that moment. Too many people are reverting to familiarity and turning their attention back to what could go wrong next rather than growing their connection to that very present moment.
Suffering is optional, it always is.
However, this is challenging to understand when it has become habitual. Suffering is an addiction, a desire fulfilled by the inner child looking to preserve what it believes is true.
The inner child and the adult mind are two separate energies with two separate belief systems, the question is which one is leading the way?
The only thing you have to do today is recognize this anxiety habit in you if in fact it is present. Is anxiety the primary focus in all you do throughout your days, and do you feel a need to ask permission from it to step out of your comfort zone temporarily?
These are the moments of clarity that will take us to the next phase in our anxiety healing journey. These are the things we must stay aware of moving forward and do something about.
Totally! I’m scared of not giving it so much importance… but it’s liberating. Im scared because it has been literally all my life for 4 or 5 years. But I’m tired of wasting time. Now im going to listen to the adult mind
Yes, the concept of the inner child can help greatly.
Reading this makes sense for me, as for most of my life i’ve always felt anything good in life requires an obstacle to get through first. And anytime things are going well, it doesn’t feel right and soon enough i’m going through an obstacle again. After reading through your book i believe the root cause of a lot of my beliefs and anxiety comes from my birth. I was born by C-Section but i was cut just under the eye while still in the womb, screamed and swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid. And spent the first day in special care. I believe pain and fear are my go to emotions as my first feelings in this world were that so my subconscious thinks that’s normal.
Curious to hear your thoughts.
I just never feel like I’m worthy of good things happening in my life, like there’s a catch to everything. I’ve been in a negativity spiral since I turned 30, birthed a sick child, lost several family members to illness and lost my job in the span of five years. How do I overcome fear of the future?
My anxiety is horrible sometimes I do think it is here for life ..I wake up with anxiety and depression I I eat with anxiety and depression I go to bed with anxiety and depression.. I tried 18 medication none ever worked I’m now started a new medication only been taking it for two weeks and I’m also taking clonazepam every day for the past 5 months.guess what !? It doesn’t work and now I’m not sure how to stop taking it !??? I’m terrified of the outcome..this loop is going on for 5 years now ..and truly I’m lost and desperately in need of help. I do think that all this is caused From many frightening and abused experience I had in the past !!?