When I tell people I specialize in anxiety, the response is usually the same:   “Oh I’d like to come and see you.” This response lets me know how pervasive worry and anxiety symptoms are in society. We live in a time where anxiety is the mainstay. We worry about our children, our finances, our health, the environment and nuclear devastation. In fact we even worry about worry!

Anxiety is something that every human being experiences. It is necessary for our survival. Worry causes our body to initiate the fight or flight response which increases adrenaline production in our body as it prepares us for battle or action. This is the body’s built in system for responding to a danger or threat. Therefore, worry can be useful when it pushes us to solve a problem and prompts us to take productive action. It becomes non- productive when it is not fuelling any clear course of action and we become “stuck” in the worry. This useful system, having gone amuck from chronic worrying  will  generate a host of bodily symptoms  such as muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, light- headedness, nausea and stomach upset.

Worry is something that visits you but it is not who you are. It is a part of you but it doesn’t have to define who you are. This is a good first step: to externalize your worry. See yourself as separate from worry and stop defining yourself as anxious or worrier. You are a person who experiences anxiety. Another key first step is to stop resisting the anxious feelings. What you resist will persist with anxiety. Don’t “fight” the sensations.  It actually gives anxiety more power and will make you feel worse. A good mantra is “flow and accept”. You might consider the fact that anxiety is a wake up call  to make positive changes in your life. It is your bodies way of telling you that something needs to change and  a journey begins!

(blog-tranquilsolutions)