Is Anxiety Preventing You From Living The Life You Want?
Everyone feels stressed at times. Life can feel overwhelming as we deal with careers, raising families, and household responsibilities.For so many people, overwhelm and burnout can become a chronic or default way of being. .
Worrying is not anything abnormal. Unfortunately, worries and fears about the future can, however, become uncontrollable and difficult to manage. When the stress of what we are feeling becomes prolonged, it leads to chronic anxiety, or “Generalized Anxiety.”
In ancient times, anxiety was developed as a response to help people survive threats from the environment. Commonly known as “fight or flight” response , it helped our ancestors to stay and fight through danger or flee the scene. It literally kept them alive. Now? This response is often less than helpful in modern society as the nature of threats have changed. , despite not living in as dangerous physical environments as our ancestors, our brains still produce the same responses at the sign of any danger.
What Are The Symptoms Of Anxiety?
Anxiety is something universally experienced. However, not everyone will experience the same symptoms or experience these in the same way. Below is a list of typical symptoms of anxiety that can help you determine if your worry and stress are going beyond what is normal.
Psychological Symptoms Of Anxiety
Intrusive Thoughts & Irrational Fears
Do you worry about everything? Do these thoughts occur so frequently that it interrupts your everyday life? Are these thoughts ones that don't just pass by but recur for no apparent reason?. Do you ever find that you are concerned or worried about things that have not actually happened?
For instance, you may worry that if you go out of the house somewhere, something bad could happen. There’s no reasoning for it, but you can’t help but feel scared of the “what ifs” of life, to the point that it can cause you to cancel plans.
Difficulty Concentrating
With anxiety, it’s common to not be able to focus on the task at hand. Because your mind is cycling through hundreds of possibilities, it can interfere with your concentration.
Feeling On Edge
Do you commonly feel like you can’t relax? No matter how hard you try, you may feel like you are on edge all the time. And everything and everyone is just so irritating you, even if there is no reason to be.
Physical Symptoms Of Anxiety
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Insomnia/Difficulty Sleeping
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Muscle Tension
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Stomach aches for no reason
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Headaches for no reason
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Racing heartbeat
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Feeling clammy/sweaty
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Restlessness, or an inability to sit still
Dealing with anxiety is overwhelming in itself. When you have so many doubts and fears, it prevents you from being able to live the life you want. Through no fault of your own, you are stuck in this perpetual place of worry and stress.
Anxiety is one of the most common mental health struggles that people face. The good news is that anxiety is also one of the most manageable difficulties out there
What Contributes To Anxiety Disorders Being So Prevalent?
Anxiety in itself is a biological and learned response. However, there are plenty of external factors that can contribute to it.
There is a cultural expectation that we always need to be doing something productive. The idea of staying busy and having full schedules has been embedded into many of our brains. Anything less than constantly performing well is seen as unacceptable.
Furthermore, there is the idea that we constantly have to add value or contribute to something to be considered an ok human. This places an unbelievable amount of pressure to always feel the need to “measure up” to the expectations of other people.
Of course, there are also economic factors that lead to anxiety and worry being a constant in our lives. The fear of losing our jobs in a tough economic landscape is growing worse. The rising cost of groceries,, utilities, and credit cards can cause us to constantly worry about everything.
Is Overcoming Anxiety And Its Symptoms Possible?
Absolutely. Anxiety, in itself, is scary to try to contend with on our own. When the stress of life becomes too much, we often develop coping mechanisms to try and deal with it. Often this includes avoidance of anything that scares you. When this happens, we can become stuck in a cycle of a never-ending fear response.
In recent years, the idea of therapy or treatment for anxiety has become more normalized. It is no longer as taboo as it once was.
Overcoming anxiety is very much possible. After all, it is one of the most treatable mental health conditions out there. Anxiety, without treatment of some kind however , very rarely goes away on its own.
How Can Therapy Help With Anxiety?
Many people feel uncomfortable with the idea of therapy at first. Meeting with someone you don’t know and talking about the issues you are facing can feel very overwhelming. It puts us outside of our comfort zones. However, anxiety therapy doesn’t have to be scary. A lot of times, this new connection is exactly what you need,.
Therapy with me is your chance to share your concerns in a supportive and non-judgemental environment. I understand how debilitating anxiety is from a human and therapist perspective. Anxiety counselling is different from just talking to your friends or family. While that can help, it doesn’t often get to the root cause of what is maintaining your anxieties or fears.
What can I learn by participating in Therapy For Anxiety?
Understanding a problem is halfway to solving it. The other half is learning skills so anxiety is no longer a constant presence in your life.
Therapy is not just your safe place to talk about how anxiety is affecting your life. You will also learn how to distance yourself from anxious thoughts. I can help you learn the skills you need to lower threat signals within your body and calm your ‘nervous’ nervous system. Part of our body’s job is to protect us and unfortunately, that protection comes in the form of anxiety.
The personal and professional experiences I have gone through as a black male from London who lives with a disability make me uniquely informed. I understand that all people struggle with finding their way in this world. I don’t see the clients I work with as just a number. I believe that all people deserve opportunities to be heard and seen in a compassionate space.
As an anxiety therapist, I want everyone who comes to me for help to feel supported and understood. Not only that, but I want anxiety therapy with me to help clients feel like they are learning skills so that someday, they won’t need therapy anymore.
I know how scary it is to feel like you are alone in your struggles. It can be daunting to reach out to someone for support. Because of this, I would like to offer you a free 30-minute consultation to see if we are the right fit for one another. Please reach out to me through my contact page if you are ready to begin.
