Believe it or not, anxiety is actually a good thing. In reasonable doses, anxiety is protective, helping us to detect danger and motivating us to get things done. In higher doses, it can quickly become maladaptive, with constant worry and fear paralyzing us and preventing us from reaching our goals, and making us feel we don’t have control over our lives. The causes of anxiety are limitless: finances, relationships, family, employment, injustice, and health to name a few. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased stress and anxiety for many individuals.
When you live with anxiety, it’s easy to try to suppress it - to avoid it, push through, rationalize, or pretend it’s not there. Avoiding things that make you feel uncomfortable makes sense. Eventually, though, avoidance can make your life less fulfilling. Nothing you’ve tried in the past seems to help, and now you might find it challenging to do the things that matter to you and to make decisions. Unattended anxiety comes at a high cost to your well-being.
To make it worse, those close to you may not understand, “why are you so anxious?” You may not even know why you keep procrastinating, avoiding, feeling overwhelmed, worn out, exhausted, and unable to live the life you want.
While your feelings are real and powerful, therapy can help. You can gain mastery over your anxiety. Consider scheduling a telehealth session to tackle anxiety and start feeling better. I look forward to learning more about your challenges and exploring whether we should work together to help you face your fears and worries.