This is Optimal Living Daily episode 2293, You Are More Than Your Anxiety, by Amy Brinton with a lifeinprogress.ca, and I'm Justin Malek. Welcome back to Optimal Living Daily or the OLD podcast. This is where I read to you from some of the best articles I can find and get permission from, covering personal development or self-help, minimalism, productivity, and more. Like yesterday, we're talking about anxiety, which often can bring anxiety just by reading about it.
And if that's the case for you, I'd urge you to remember that it's just a reaction to your thoughts. And towards the middle and end of the article, we'll hear some good strategies to consider for anxiety. So with that, let's get right to it and continue optimizing your life. You Are More Than Your Anxiety by Amy Brinton with a lifeinprogress.ca The colors, the feelings, the sounds, everything about my first anxiety attack is still so real.
It was spring break and everyone else was at the beach, or so it felt. Social media was a regrettable source of envy for me at the time. I was loading my four girls up for a trip to the library. All four heads of hair were done in simple, yet still somehow difficult ponytails.
Everyone had been offered a snack to fill in the gap before lunch, and they all had two matching shoes on their feet, an exhausting accomplishment for me that day I began buckling the youngest into her car seat when the symptoms washed in and consumed me I wasn't sure what was happening so I ran inside to the couch and then to the bathroom surely I was having an odd case of the stomach flu or a heart attack I wasn't sure I just remember breathing breathing and trying to make sense of what was happening my second oldest the ever watchful one came into the house to check on me I handed her the phone and asked her to stay close in case she needed to make a call luckily the symptoms came and went and I bravely got in the car and we made the trip That was one instance one instance that had been built on several years of shoving the anxiety down pretending it wasn't there, trying to stuff it into the corners of my soul because I didn't know what else to do with it. I felt defective and shameful for having so many children, for following my heart when my head said I couldn't handle this. What was I doing? What was wrong with me?
Perhaps I wasn't cut out for motherhood like other women were. It was self-doubt and insecurity at its finest, but thankfully, slowly, and surely, a positive shift began to change the way anxiety controlled and define me. It no longer did. I know my situation is not unique.
Maybe you're over there having the same difficulties as me. You may have anxiety, but it isn't who you are. You know what it feels like to be overwhelmed, stretched thin, and helpless in everyday situations. The busyness, demands, expectations, they all weigh down on you and threaten to consume you each and every day.
It's real. And you and I both know that we can either let anxiety chew us up and spit us out, or we can face it. We can stop pushing it down and slowly offer ourselves the grace and patience we need to start owning it instead of letting it trap us and its nasty web of hopelessness. I've been able to regain my life.
It now feels full, happy, and manageable again. Not to say that anxiety doesn't show up anymore, but now I'm a little wiser, more prepared. Because I'm not my anxiety, and you aren't either. Take hold of your anxiety before it takes hold of you.
Here are four suggestions to get your head above the water. This is no substitute for professional help, just a few suggestions from one friend to another. Number one, openly acknowledge your anxiety. There evidence that shows teaching children to label their emotions is highly beneficial The same holds true for us adult people too A new brain imaging study by UCLA psychologists reveals why verbalizing our feelings makes our sadness anger and pain less intense Don't push it down.
Don't deny it. Face it and acknowledge that it's real and it's there. It's always the first step to healing. Number two, let good enough be enough.
I've done my fair share of keeping up with the Joneses and I don't even like them. Us women in particular like to strive for the we've got it all together look. And then once we get there, like we actually do appear to have it together, We worry that people are judging us for having it together. Stop it.
What a worthless waste of our energy. Slow it down. Take the simpler road. We don't have to do it all and we don't have to be it all.
Who we are and what we have to offer right now is enough. Let it be so. Number three, care for yourself. I can drive this one home to help suit so many difficult situations in life.
It's important. Two of the most vital things I've done to control my anxiety have been to develop a regular writing routine that sets me free and exercise. Not just a walk around the block kind of exercise, but the pounding my feet on the pavement, running my heart out kind that leaves me sweaty and thankful to have a heartbeat. Do what works for you, but do something.
And number four, ask for help. Perhaps this is the most vital point when we're really in the trenches of anxiety. I can't tell you what kind of help you need, but if you listen to your heart, you'll know. Perhaps you need a long talk with a dependable friend.
You need to make that appointment to see the therapist. You need to schedule in some hours for someone to take your kids. You're gonna call in that cleaning company and have no shame. Whatever you need, it's okay to ask for it.
Anxiety is here to teach us something. Learn from your anxiety. What is your anxiety telling you It can teach us that we stronger than we think It can help us understand that we can do hard things It might be forcing us to slow down and take better care of ourselves Anxiety doesn have to define us but we can use it to tune into ourselves with more self-awareness and self-compassion. You just listened to the post titled You Are More Than Your Anxiety by Amy Brinton with a lifeinprogress.ca.
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Right now, it's just $199. And head to superpower.com and use code OLD at checkout for an additional $20 off your membership. Thank you, Amy. As I was sort of alluding to earlier, thinking about anxiety can definitely cause more anxiety.
Dwelling and researching anxiety on Google can have the same effect. If you're trying to constantly push it down, it's probably the worst thing you can do for yourself. But these tips are really things that can help. As I mentioned yesterday, of course, seeing a licensed professional is always a good idea and a great place to start because they can give you some more specific exercises and things to try or even books to read that could work best for you in your case.
But there are some other great ideas here as well. Instead of trying to suppress it, which really is going to make it worse, openly acknowledging it and caring for yourself will almost certainly be a step in the right direction. It worked for Amy, hopefully it can work for you too. And with that, have a great rest of your day.
We talked about both minimalism and anxiety and how they're linked together on Monday. Then we talked about anxiety specifically today for Tuesday. So why not talk about minimalism specifically tomorrow on Wednesday? So stay tuned for that Where Optimal Life No weights