Anxiety getting too much to handle?
Our brains are naturally wired to send us anxiety when something is wrong. So what do we do when it seems like everything is wrong!? We live in stressful times, but we can train our brains to relate to anxiety differently so that we can stay afloat, show up for those we love, and live the life we want to live.
Does anxiety appear at times when you think it’s not appropriate—like when everything is calm and you think you should feel safe?
When anxiety appears, does it show up way before or hang around a lot longer than the thing that caused it—like hours or days before or after the stressful thing or situation?
As anxiety interrupts your daily life, do you find it uncontrollable—like nothing you do helps?
Does anxiety keep you from going places you want to go or doing things you want to do? Does it ruin an otherwise fine time?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, therapy might really help. There are skills you can learn that will change the way you deal with anxiety and decrease its power in your life. The method I teach is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT (pronounced like ‘act’).
When is anxiety a real problem?
How can therapy help with my anxiety?
When anxiety runs wild, it’s very hard to be the person we want to be. It closes in and makes us feel like we’re fighting to stay afloat, like waves of fear are crashing down and we’re struggling to get our breath.
Therapy is a calm space, a safe harbor in which to try a different way. Instead of fighting the water and struggling to get to the surface, therapy can help us rediscover our natural buoyancy. The purpose of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is to help people live a life that aligns with their personal values. It’s not just about 'getting rid of anxiety.’ That—after all—would be impossible. It is about changing the way anxiety effects us and the way we react when anxiety shows up. ACT teaches us to float rather than to thrash. If anxiety has you exhausted just trying to keep your head above water, you might be ready to learn to float.