Congratulations!
You did it!
Some parts of your life are working.
It may going better than you thought possible.
You may have achieved a form of success desired or not even imagined.
Now what?
Not sure?
That’s ok!
Though you might aim to press on, you may be nervous.
That makes sense.
What are some reasons for anxiety?
- You may have fear that your success may wane.
- You may have anxiety about expanding your successes.
- You may worry that the past may come creeping back into your life.
- You may begin to worry about worrying or worry about not worrying or not having to worry. Fear about fear compounds fear.
- You may be troubled with the fact that you were fearful for so long and wonder again, Now What?
Now What? is a question that may compound the worry because of its emotional charge.
If we take Now What? and separate the feeling, Now What? becomes an inquiry of these types of questions:
- What do you like?
- What would you like?
- Where would you like to go?
- What do you want to hope for?
- What do you want to dream about?
- What do you want to do now?
- Who would you like to be?
Anxiety can get in the way of asking these questions, searching for answers, and finding suitable means to move forward.
What to do?
The Why’s of having these experiences are often asked first and they can be challenging to answer because of the nature and forms of anxiety.
Anxiety may appear in feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
As feelings, anxiety may come as an immediate rush of emotion or like a slow burn of emotion which leads to an explosion of emotion.
As thoughts, anxiety may come as negative self-talk, catastrophizing, or futurising.
As behaviors, anxiety may come as fight, flight, isolation, or short-term energy releasing behaviors that may temporarily make you feel better and may cause secondary problems.
How do I handle anxiety? may be a more fruitful place to start before asking Why? questions.
Coping
Strategies
for Anxiety:
Be Present
Use grounding and mindfulness techniques to help reduce pressurized thinking and soothe ineffective emotions.
Change the Prompting Event
Take a mental or actual holiday from the topic that you fear to help get a handle on the degree of the topic’s impact.
Change Your Attention
Move attention away from the issue at hand to a self-soothing break to help calm the nerves and regain perspective.
Change Your Interpretation
Lose the negativity by brainstorming other possibilities including positives to help generate realism and new perspectives.
Change the Past Legacies
Learn about behavior patterns, origins, and uses to help recognize and develop techniques for more effective behaviors.
Balance Out the Nervous System
Actual threats in the present may be less than the amount for which we activate. Learn to balance out activation with meditation, yoga, tai chi, etc.
Change Body and Facial Language
Change posture, open your palm, and half-smile can afford you a degree of openness to be less negative and more positive.
Calm and Energize Yourself
Know what you like and how it helps you feel calm or energized to select experiences that make you more available.
Restore to Decrease Burnout
Practice reviving yourself to not feel so spent. You can learn procedures to reduce burnout from work and life.
Practice Non-judgmental Thinking
Understand how to reduce polarization and see things in context by describing accurately facts and consequences separate from feelings.
Shift Time Perception
Consider the value of stop pause, think to accept reality and make an effective, sustainable choices. Consider completing masterful tasks to improve awareness of problem solving skills.
Change Your Agency
Consider that feelings may contribute to unhelpful behaviors. Learn to shift perspective and dial down the feelings to make sound decisions that are more effective.
These types of coping strategies can be learned and practiced to become part of daily life.
They can improve your capacity for sustainable effectiveness.
These coping strategies for anxiety can help you gain traction to:
- understand where you are in this moment.
- clarify the goals for which you aim.
- build a game plan to reach these goals with your whole self.
Seeking Counseling? Seeking Therapy?
