When someone asks me what anxiety is like from day to day I warn them. I warn them because the answer isn’t as straight forward as they think it’s going to be. The topsy-turvy world of anxiety comes with a multitude of emotional states and thought patterns throughout the day, and it’s not all bad, or is it?
The closest thing to explaining what anxiety is like is to think about a roller-coaster ride. There’s ups, downs, twists, and turns and it’s never just one set state.
On a daily basis during my anxiety disorder which led to deep depersonalization I remember talking myself out of pleasant feelings, and into unpleasant ones. I also remember not recognizing that there was a middle ground between good and bad feelings. That middle ground holds a very important place in the transition from the old anxious you to the new empowered you, and it must be respected.
We can think our way into different emotional states, but they can also be automatic. Think about a basketball player who’s shot thousands of free throws. This person no long needs to think about how to accomplish the goal of putting the ball in the hoop, it’s already set. Just like anxiety, we consciously and unconsciously play out the same mental, physiological and behavioural patterns that lead us to unpleasant emotions.
It’s not all your fault though. This unpleasant state is a result of a multitude of other peoples ideas that eventually became your own.
What anxiety is like definitely differs from person to person. But there are some common qualities anxiety sufferers share from day to day. The questions we must ask ourselves on this path towards self discovery is two fold:
- What creates this emotional state in the first place, what’s the formula I use knowingly and unknowingly?
- What maintains this emotional state, what do I do that adds more fuel to the fire?
Imagine wanting something so badly, but doing things that guarantee that you never accomplish what you want. That’s kind of what anxiety feels like from day to day. The conscious mind wants freedom while the subconscious mind wants repetition. Since repetition is connected to what was there first in your life that eventually led to repeated experiences, healing may not be as linear A path as we hoped.
If there was one factor over all the other factors when it comes to knowing you’re on the right path towards healing anxiety, it would be living more effortlessly.
To live effortlessly means to be less judgemental. “Everything is” is a common phrase you’ll hear me say on the Facebook page and YouTube videos. That’s because everything that is here in your reality is here for you. Not to hurt you or destroy you, but to accompany you towards inner growth. You must start seeing the ‘bad’ in this way starting today.
Life cannot improve from the outside in, it must be improved from the inside out. Our inner world determines our perceptions and emotional states. We must compassionately guide the inner wounded child within us just like we would our own children. We must also make sure we’re not receiving love and sympathy from the outside due to anxiety, as this is the biggest reason people stay stuck.
What’s exciting to me is when a fellow anxiety warrior decides that things MUST change. Key word here is must, not should.
That choice brings with it one of the 3 emotional states I’ll be discussing in todays podcast. This pleasant place sometimes comes with a rush of dopamine leading to a desire to accomplish something special which will then lead to a reward. This is a great place too start the anxiety recovery process. From here we can begin regulating our emotions and tapping into more control within.
Control is what we desire more of, but we rarely take the time to understand what it is we truly have control over. We look to control other people and external circumstances rather than our minds which lead to our emotions, our actions, and our imagination. I will show you today what anxiety is like, you can then relate it to your own journey, and begin tapping into the epiphanies that will help you heal fully.
Step 1:
Listen to today’s full episode of The Anxiety Guy Podcast Right Here:
Step 2:
Subscribe to the anxiety guy podcast through your favourite podcast directory such as Apple, Stitcher, or Podbean.
Step 3:
Leave a comment or question in the comment section below. I’d love to hear what you got out of this anxiety guy podcast episode on what anxiety is like from day to day.
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