Dear Diary, What is Anxiety?<\/p>\n
What is Anxiety?\u00a0 Anxiety is a state of being that narrows our focus to the problem requiring change.\u00a0 At low levels, anxiety is a tool that helps us focus and mitigate distractions.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 anxiety can quickly compound on itself and paralyze us by narrowing our focus too much and blocking the rest of the world.\u00a0 Anxiety triggers our fight-flight-freeze response by telling us something is wrong.\u00a0 Anxiety is like a mental pain; we must address what is wrong when we feel it.<\/p>\n
The first stage of anxiety is our ‘fight’ response.\u00a0 At this stage, we are aware of our worries but can still experience what else life has to offer.\u00a0 We may already know the problem but need to spend some time developing a solution to counter it.\u00a0 We may have a more generalized anxiety and need to ask relevant questions like ‘what is wrong?’ or ‘what am I trying to change?’ to isolate the problem.\u00a0 Our fight response allows us to problem-solve while being open to other emotions and possibilities.<\/p>\n
The second stage of anxiety is our ‘flight’ response.\u00a0 We were unable to solve the problem and needed to practice focusing elsewhere.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes this can be healthy, allowing us to practice resiliency to return to stage one.\u00a0 Not all flight responses are unhealthy escapism.\u00a0 Positive emotions broaden our experiences and thoughts, and allowing ourselves to experience them can often present solutions.\u00a0 During this ‘flight’ response, the anxiety is still there, and the pull to focus on the problem is still there; we are trying to focus on other things.<\/p>\n
The third stage of anxiety is our ‘freeze’ response.\u00a0 Anxiety has narrowed our focus to the point we can no longer see\/think about anything else but the problem, and now we become desperate.\u00a0\u00a0 Here we need exposure to the rest of life the most, to get back to stages one and two and not fall into hopelessness and despair.\u00a0 We become trapped in cycles of thought about the problem that don’t advance, merely repeat themselves and trigger a downward spiral of negative emotions.\u00a0 We become frozen and unable to do anything other than focus on the problem itself.<\/p>\n
A little bit of anxiety can be a good thing.\u00a0 It can help us focus on a problem through life’s distractions and address something that requires a change.\u00a0 It is essential to balance our desire to problem-solve with living the rest of our life.\u00a0 Some problems aren’t solvable immediately and require assistance or time.\u00a0 Some problems are not ours to solve.\u00a0 Skills like resiliency, patience, and acceptance can go a long way to keeping anxiety in check.\u00a0 When we begin to feel overwhelmed, it is ok to ask for help. \u00a0We don’t have to suffer alone.\u00a0 Find a balance between letting your focus narrow on the problems and letting positive emotions keep life broad.\u00a0 You are worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Diary, What is Anxiety? What is Anxiety?\u00a0 Anxiety is a state of being that narrows our focus to the problem requiring change.\u00a0 At low levels, anxiety is a tool that helps us focus and mitigate distractions.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 anxiety can quickly compound on itself and paralyze us by narrowing our focus too much and blocking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[304,337],"tags":[312,329,263],"class_list":["post-28306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dear-diary","category-the-mindfulness-journey","tag-312","tag-acceptance","tag-anxiety"],"yoast_head":"\n