Anxiety
“You should sleep 7-8 hours per night,” they say.
“That’s funny,” Sarah* thinks. She would be happy with 5-6 hours per night. If only she didn’t wake up in the middle of the night. If only she could go to sleep when she got in bed.
But as soon as she lays her head down, her brain turns on warp speed. Sarah can’t stop the thoughts from going round and round…
Waiting for her mom’s lab results to come back…
Thinking about her job performance…
Wondering what her friend meant when she made that comment…
“Just relax,” they say. “You worry too much.”
Sarah thinks to herself: “Sure, it’s that easy. Just stop it! How silly. How frustrating! As if I choose to be miserable!”
During the day, she keeps herself busy at work and that seems to help keep the worries at bay. But when she gets home from work, she finds it difficult to focus on what she’s doing or find any pleasure in her “free” time.
Her roommate says she has been short and snippy.
She’s tired of being distracted, irritable, and tired of being tired!
Things seem to be going well. However…
Stacey* is graduating college this year, and she’s got a pretty good plan for the future. She has a boyfriend in a nearby town, and things are going well.
However, she has been noticing more and more lately that she’s prone to panic attacks every time she thinks about getting in the car to visit him. There’s something about getting on the highway… and going over the bridge… that sends her heart racing.
She even ended up in the hospital on one attempt. She was certain she was having a heart attack, but they sent her home saying nothing was wrong with her health. This just started about a year ago, and it’s getting worse, not better. It’s strange… it just doesn’t make sense.
Brittany’s* friends tell her that she works out a lot…
… but she doesn’t think this is true. Her friends have even gone so far as to INSIST that she “go get help” from a counselor.
Brittany doesn’t “love” working out, but she just can’t look in the mirror and be happy with the shape of her legs. She just wants to be a little bit leaner! And what if she misses a day… and then that turns into missing two days??
Besides, working out helps her keep the stress at bay. It also keeps her mind busy from worrying about her parents’ fighting, or her boyfriend’s stress at work, or what kind of mood her roommate is going to be in. Working out helps her “getaway.”
I know there seem to be more questions than solutions…
But there is a way to experience relief and freedom!
Whether you have a difficult time driving over bridges, managing your future, or keeping your concerns about your health or the health of your loved ones at bay…
No matter what is causing your anxiety, therapy can provide the tools to help you live in peace today.
What if you had a way to manage these feelings of uncertainty, instead of having to run from them?
What if you could identify the root problem behind the worries, so you could deal with them appropriately and get relief?
In therapy, I teach you coping skills to manage your concerns when they do appear, while at the same time help you unpeel the layers to identify and then address the causes – which puts you right back in the driver’s seat.
I help people uncover their patterns…
I often find a host of “unwritten rules,” kind of like an operating system, that runs in the background dictating thoughts and behaviors.
These rules (“I should be married by now,” or “I should be able to handle this,” or “He should know what I want by now”) often go unchallenged because they’ve been around for so long they become a part of who we are!
My clients often find considerable relief just in identifying these unhelpful thinking styles. We’ll identify styles and rules, then challenge those rules – and keep the ones that work, tweak others, and completely replace the ones causing you harm.
We will strengthen the muscles to manage distress, control that which is controllable, and cope with the unknowable.
For Sarah, she kept a log for a few days about all the things that caused her stomach to hurt, and her heart rate to increase. She brought it back, and we chose a thought at random.
Step-by-step we went through a process to discover places of imbalance and identify the solvable issues. We found that Sarah tended to assume the worst-case scenario whenever her alarm bells (fear) went off. We examined her expectations and reactions; and with guidance, she found a more reasonable thought process in response.
The feelings of dread and concern faded, and she was able to let go of the need to know what would happen next. She was able to begin enjoying the present – and to relax again!
My goal is to go beyond temporary relief and provide skills that last a lifetime… putting you back in control over your mind and your feelings!
“Control the controllables.”
Anxiety is a response to what might happen in the future and often about things we have absolutely no control over. Fear of the future robs us of the present!
What you do control is your response to life circumstances. So, grab the helm, and start your journey to discovering how you can take back control over your feelings… and be free to enjoy today despite not having control over the future… get in touch today!
Call for a free 20-minute phone consultation: (904) 469-0060, send an email with any questions, or schedule directly using my online calendar! Today is the best day to have a better tomorrow.