What makes anxiety worse? You will be surprised

And the answer is…AVOIDANCE

The natural tendency when you perceive a threat is to avoid it if you can.

When you are afraid, your reflex is to escape. And as you do, you feel as wave of relief wash over you. If you are actually in danger this is a wise response. But what if you are not in danger?

Then, as it happens, when you associate avoidance with relief, it only makes your problem worse!

As time goes on, it takes less and less to trigger the same reaction.

So, for instance, if you had a fear of a harmless garter snake. Despite knowing that it won’t hurt you, every cell in your body screams at you to run, and that’s exactly what you do. Eventually, seeing a picture of a snake, or even the word “snake” in print, will trigger the same reaction (plug in any fear for your own “snake”).

This happens because in avoiding your fear, you are not really avoiding the snake…you are actually avoiding the way the snake makes you feel! You have taught yourself the FEAR OF FEAR.

And the solution? Learn to stay with the fear, relax into it, and you will discover it begins to subside. Fear and relaxation cannot co exist. The relaxation with cancel out the fear. The goal remains claiming control and establishing ease and peace no less that when you ran…this is just a more effective strategy.

We will consider learning how to STAY with a variety of effective approaches over time.

As you become more skilled, you become more flexible. As you become more flexible, you will have more control and influence. You cannot be relaxed AND afraid at the same time. It’s just not possible.

And again, I will be sharing HOW to stay in upcoming blogs.

Be well!

Mike