5 Facts You Need To Know About Anxiety
Fact 1: I offer Counselling For Anxiety In Cheadle – It’s the most common issue that comes through the door.
Yup. Anxiety beats all other issues into a cocked hat for popularity (or should that be unpopularity?)!
On average half of the clients that I am working with will be dealing with anxiety.
So if you’re experiencing anxiety then rest assured you are in very good company.
Fact 2: The word “anxious” comes from the latin word meaning “choke”.
Having anxiety often comes with physical sensations.
You might feel tight chested; find it difficult to swallow; get butterflies in your stomach or suffer from headaches. This is all a perfectly normal part of the anxious condition.
Other physical symptoms might be hair loss, difficulty sleeping, impotence, sweating and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Fact 3: Anxiety often comes with its best mate “Panic attack”.
A panic attack is where you get so worried about feeling anxious that you start to feel more and more anxious about it and your body responds by releasing adrenaline.
This speeds up your breathing and can bring on the sweats, lightheadedness, tightness in your chest or other symptoms.
Panic attacks do not do you any harm and they are horrible to have. They are also optional.
Read this post to find out how to stop panic attacks.
Fact 4: You can’t “get rid” of anxiety.
If you could, you would have done it by now wouldn’t you? People use all sorts of strategies to try and rid themselves of anxiety and many of them might work short term.
How do you try and get rid of yours? Some hot favourites are withdrawal, alcohol, going to sleep, playing computer games, staring out the window – and they’re just the things I’ve tried when I get stuck with it!
The truth is anxiety is an emotion and we don’t get to choose what emotions we have. Feelings are what we get for being alive. Feelings are one way we really know that we are alive.
Fact 5: Connecting with what’s important in your life will make a huge difference to your anxiety levels.
Eh? Didn’t I just say you can’t get rid of anxiety?
If you know where you want to go in life and who and what are important to you then you are less likely to fall into the trap of trying to “get rid” of your anxiety.
In ACT we often use a metaphor of a path or road that you travel down as you live a valued life.
Your anxiety might come with you down that road but what often happens, almost by accident, is that you stop noticing it so much as you engage in a more rich, fulfilling life.
When I do that I stop staring out the window and do something that is important to me.
Talk to friends, hang out with my partner or kids, get on with work. I don’t notice anxiety slipping away because I’m too busy getting a buzz out of what I’m doing.
Struggling with Anxiety? Come work with me.
I offer counselling for anxiety in Cheadle, Cheshire.
I know what having anxiety is like from very personal experience and I have helped and supported many many clients out of the struggle and back into a life they find deeply rewarding.
If you are interested in making an appointment then simply book in using this page to choose an appointment time. If you would find it easier you can also use my contact form which you will find here.
You’ve struggled enough with anxiety. Come talk to me and I will show you a different way.
Image by Gabriel Matula