I used to think anxiety was some deep psychological or spiritual dysregulation, not to say that perspective isn’t valid in a sense. However, when I learned that a large portion of my situation was mostly my autonomic nervous system interpreting abstract and existential worries as threats that required “fight or flight”, it became so much easier to grapple with it all and find helpful tools and techniques to manage. Not to mention, a lot of my anxiety was me being anxious about being anxious, so being able to understand and contextualize things made a big difference. Wishing anyone going through bouts of anxiety all the love and support in the world.
1 day ago | 269
Be careful with this method. Yes its good to talk back to your anxiety but dismissing or being mean to it like in the post can be counterproductive. An alternative is ‘talking’ to your anxiety and actually listening to what its saying. Thoughts like ‘im ugly and nobody will ever find me attractive’ can be interpreted as a cry for help and actually means ‘i’m lonely and i want friends and i think having an attractive face might make me more friends’ You can talk to this anxiety just like a friend who is opening up to you. “ looks aren’t everything, making friends is about meeting people and being approachable” Or “well we can start with skincare, and how about tweezing our eyebrows or getting a haircut. “ Dismissing anxious thought while logical, also means dismissing your own feelings. Yes its not you, but this anxiousness was developed from your experience and feelings.
1 day ago (edited) | 107
In my experience, it's more helpful to be gentle with Jerry than flippant. He's only trying to keep us safe, after all.
1 day ago | 92
Jerry is such a perfect name for a pestering little anxiety blob.
16 hours ago | 23
I think acceptance is key. The anxiety will come and it is familiar, let it wash over you and carry on. For whatever reason, this is a part of you that fear and denial will only exacerbate. Deep breaths, one step at a time.
1 day ago | 12
This has been how I healed my PTSD. Having some specialized in PTSD to validate me through identifying my triggers and what they mean deeply to me was the best thing I chose to do for myself.
3 hours ago | 0
Yeah don’t insult your anxiety like this. You’re going to invite shame around feeling anxious and odds are you already have some. Just know it’s there and there’s a part of you that feels like it needs acknowledgement and assurance.
20 hours ago | 25
Making my anxiety the villain or even the hero of my story helps me so much. It's not who I really am, and that helps it from overwhelming me
20 hours ago | 2
I always say to myself, "This anxiety is not yours to carry. It's a human experience that will arise and pass away. I'm proud of how you're interacting with it nonetheless."
1 day ago | 11
This is what I do if I have depressive episodes or pervasive moodiness like today. I was in a fog, very low energy, and have been grappling with life changes that I want to make, and being generally burnt out. I was getting distracted by sad thoughts like “I’m not good at my job, and I never will be” while at work. I had to remind myself that I am not my thoughts, that I am actually excited about the changes to come, and I can say “I’m fine” until I finally am at the end of my shift. I got better after lunch — turns out I was dehydrated. I don’t have anxiety or depression, but I use these self-regulation tools myself when I’m having a bad day, and they help tremendously. You guys are doing great work out here!
22 hours ago | 0
I have OCD and one thing I've learned in treatment is the power of agreeing with intrusive thoughts. For example, if the thought of "your mom has died" comes, I will not check out if that's true, but instead, I will say something like "Yeah, that may have happened" or "I hope it happened". This way, I feel a bit anxious for a few moments, but it passes and your brain understands that it should not worry about this stuff. Anxiety and intrusive thoughts can only have power if you give it to them.
9 hours ago | 1
Me: hey anxiety, you suk! >:3 My anxiety: I'm here because you know you have 3 essays due 5 minutes away and you haven't done anything Me: ༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
13 hours ago | 3
I highly recommend anyone suffering from anxiety to look into Claire Weekes "floating" technique. I've been suffering from an anxiety disorder for 6 months and kept hearing about the power of "acceptance" but never quite figured out how to accept my thoughts and physical symptoms. I recently learned of her approach to acceptance and feel like I've made a breakthrough. I know the anxiety will keep coming back for now, but I'm more confident in knowing how to handle the symptoms. Kinda funny how her teachings can be linked to those of Buddhism/mindfulness, while having been created in the early 60's.
1 day ago | 1
I personally do the gigachad face and mog my anxiety when I start spiraling. Gigachad aura farms anxiety and depression
1 day ago | 7
Rather than being rude to it recognize its intentions to protect you, thank it for the intention, and ask what it would be doing if it felt like it didn’t have to spend time protecting. Ask what age it thinks you are, and correct it if it’s wrong. Where in your body does it connect? Then give it a role if it doesn’t come up with one. IFS.
16 hours ago | 0
I guess the switch for me was not listening the thought caused by anxiety, but listening the anxiety for understanding the root cause. For example, i feared rejection a lot and, many times, my anxiety generated thoughts that devalueted me for avoiding trying and then so avoiding being rejected.
10 hours ago | 0
I know it's just a silly picture, but I have a question regarding the one where he says "you're stupid, jerry". Obviously we are not our anxiety, but as I saw it, it is a part of as right now. Even if we don't like it. I found that when I tried to scold my anxiety, I felt bad not because of what it had told me - but by the fact that I had thought of it at all. On the contrary, what did work for me was accepting my anxious thoughts as something that is apart of me (as I am all of me), listening to them, but not acting on them. So for me it's more like, "I get you jerry, But come on! Give ourselves some credit. We are better then that". I traind this line of thought for years and now I barely hear from jerry, but even if I do, I'm able to simmer him down. If anybody have thoughts I would like to hear them! And you all have a blessed day.
1 day ago (edited) | 3
HealthyGamerGG
“I really hope I don’t say something dumb at this party. What do I say? How do I say it? What will make them think I’m interesting?”
“Everything’s gone so smoothly today. I just know something’s going to happen to screw it all up….”
These are the kinds of pervasive thoughts that can seep into your brain if you have anxiety.
They can be so debilitating that you might believe you ARE your anxiety. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
You are NOT your anxiety. It can feel like it, especially in moments where it overwhelms you and all you can do is stress.
But think of it differently. It’s this thing that follows you around, influencing your thoughts and feelings, causing you to catastrophize and worry about the future.
Whenever that voice exaggerates your negative thoughts and brings you down, inhale and exhale deeply, and talk back. Give it some attitude.
It may not disappear completely, but you might find that voice getting softer and softer the more you do it. You can even talk to it out loud if you have to.
It’s always easier to manage anxiety when you have tools at your disposal. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of where anxiety comes from, how it manifests in your mind, and strategies to manage it,
Check out the Anxiety module in Dr. K’s Guide to Mental Health: 💚 bit.ly/3ErEH7Y
1 day ago | [YT] | 10,323