The experience of having anxiety is not pleasant. A racing heart, frantic thoughts, sweaty palms, and stomach pains are just a few of the uncomfortable symptoms felt when anxiety is activated in the body. The mental and physical experience of anxiety is so uncomfortable that we quite often think of it as our enemy and something to be eliminated. However, anxiety is a natural human emotion which has developed to keep us safe. As we developed as early humans, anxiety helped to keep us alive. The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses allowed us to survive in an array of different environments and circumstances. The problem in our modern world is that anxiety is often setting off internal alarm bells when it really doesn’t need to. So, what if instead of waging war on it, we learned to see it as our misguided protector? How could shifting our relationship to anxiety help to manage it?
Anxiety as a protector
Our body wants to stay alive. Anxiety has developed as one way for it to do this by picking up on danger signals in our environment and putting our nervous systems on high alert. However, traumatic or negative experiences can alter this system and cause non-hazardous things to be interpreted as threatening. This often leads to anxiety surrounding experiences such as meeting new people, giving a presentation, interacting with animals, driving over bridges, etc. Anxiety triggers will be different for each individual person given their unique history. The common theme is that anxiety swoops in to try and protect us when these triggers are activated, leading to behaviours such as overthinking, isolating, avoidance, and so on.
A different perspective
Anxiety: our misguided helper. If we view anxiety as a caring (yet often misguided) helper, we can start to change our relationship to it in the moment. Follow these steps for managing anxiety from this new position:
- Notice what triggers you. A trigger is anything that sets your mind and body on high alert. It is what prompts anxiety to step in and try and control the situation.
- Try and pause between the trigger and your reaction. This is difficult and takes a lot of practice. Reflecting on your reaction afterwards can be a good place to start and will help to access this skill faster as time goes on.
- Talk directly to the anxiety. You may say something like: “Thank you for trying to protect me Anxiety, but you are misguided here.”
- Before taking any action, stop and consider your options. Do you have to do something right this minute? Can this wait until you’ve calmed down and can move forward with a clear mind?
- Shift your reaction to your chosen option or if possible, engage in a relaxation exercise first. Take some deep breaths, go for a walk, make a snack, or spend time with a loved one or pet.
By interacting with anxiety from a patient, loving place we may be able to shift our experience and find success in managing symptoms in the moment. Feeling anxious is a very normal part of life and working with these feelings instead of against them may make a huge difference to us.
If you feel the level of anxiety you have is impacting your quality of life, please reach out to any of our counsellors to speak more about treatment options and supports. While everyone experiences anxiety, some people suffer from anxiety disorders, which can be debilitating. We provide anxiety counselling in Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, and online counselling. Any one of our staff members would be happy to meet for a free 15-minute consultation to discuss your individual experience.
Written by Cat Zydyk
References:
Aycock Anderson, L. (n.d.). Reframing anxiety as protection. Counselling Creatives. https://counselingcreatives.com/blog1/2020/3/19/reframing-anxiety-as-protection