The Paradox of Anxiety

In many aspects of life your instincts serve you well and it is a good idea to follow them. However with anxiety the opposite is often true. If you suffer from anxiety consider the following:

Have you ever noticed how the more you fight and struggle against anxiety & the more determined you are to overcome it, the harder it seems to bite you?

The paradox of anxiety is that the first step in overcoming it is accepting it. Rather than try to fight to get rid of this condition which is haunting you, try to recognise and accept that it will come and then adopt some simple steps to try to manage it, accepting that you are unlikely to defeat it altogether (and that is not what you are trying to do since trying to do that will probably make it worse). That way you will stand a better chance of not getting anxious about being anxious.

Here are 5 practical suggestions for approaching anxiety:

1. Try to accept that the anxiety will happen but that is not the end of the world.
2. If you can, start doing an activity that will help you to focus on something and thereby take your mind off the anxiety to some degree (even if not completely).
3. Adopt an experimental attitude - if your typical response to anxiety hasn't helped you to manage it, try something different (perhaps the opposite!), seeing it as a kind of experiment.
4. Recognise and congratulate yourself on small successes - remember you are trying to manage the anxiety more productively not to get rid of it completely so if something helps you to cope or manage better and doesn't bring a downside then it is probably worth repeating.
5. Remember that you have a choice as to how you act when anxious. You can act differently to how your anxiety is telling you - try it and see what happens!

For information about my ebook program to help you deal with anxiety go to: AWAKE from Anxiety

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