Taking Action to Overcome Anxiety
Anxiety has played an important role in the survival of humankind for a long time. It has provided us with an internal alarm system to help keep us safe. It goes off to warn us of dangers so we can protect ourselves by fighting, flighting, freezing, or fawning. Those four Fs are all effective tools we use to help protect ourselves in times of danger. We do not want to get rid of them completely because they do keep us safe. However, when our brain always feels that we are in danger than it will keep us in a continuous state of anxiety. Most of those things that keep us in anxiety are not life threatening and sometimes not even physically threatening.
Examples:
anxiety around taking a test because if I do not do well that defines my worth
believing I will seem uneducated if I mess up during a presentation
afraid to go up to a busy counter at a restaurant because I do not want to inconvenience another person
avoiding asking a question in a work meeting because it makes you uncomfortable to have attention on you
never skydiving in fear of death, even though it is on your bucket list
avoiding public bathrooms because you do not want anyone to know that you poop (avoiding embarrassment)
Once our brain starts believing that these are dangerous situations it is going to set the anxiety alarm off before and during the situation. The brain will do everything it can to help us avoid it or remind us that we are unsafe in the moment (upset stomach, sweat, racing heartbeat, racing thoughts, tension in the body, etc.). This is our brain in fear and worry. Fear and worry fuel anxiety. Which means, to decrease the anxiety we decrease the fears and worries. We do this by taking action.
What does taking action mean? Taking action means doing something to take our mind out of the fear and worry. We want to do this because when our brain sets off the anxiety alarm, we move to the survival brain (fight, flight, freeze, and fawn). The goal is to learn how to stay out of the survival brain in times we are not in danger. Taking action can help prevent us from entering into the survival brain but it can also pull us out as well. Taking action can look like many different things and what works for you might not work for someone else. We might want to have survival action plans depending on the situation we are in.
Examples of taking action are:
talking to someone near you or on the phone
taking a walk or exercising
driving
writing
meditation
art
preparing
planning
practicing
being in nature
being more present with your current surroundings
listening to music/podcast
breathing
reading
If one of the actions does not work than try another. You might be able to think of your own actions that will benefit you. Every time we take action whether it is to prevent the anxiety alarm from going off or after it has already gone off, we are informing the brain that there is no need for an alarm at this time. Actions to avoid are those things that numb the brain: alcohol, marijuana, drugs, and food or the lack of food. The brain will become dependent on those actions which prevents overall improvement in decreasing anxiety (feels good in the moment but hurts in the long run). When we start taking action around anxiety than change will begin to occur with the understanding that change is typically a slow process.
The Halos Counseling Team is here to support you through your anxiety. Reach out to us to schedule a free consult to determine if we're a good fit for you.