Do You Have an Anxiety Habit?
You may be immersed in anxiety and not even know it
- Do you regularly relive moments and stew over what you said or didn’t say?
- Do you frequently find fault with yourself and privately dread situations that you feel may expose you?
- Do you worry about what others might be thinking, planning or doing that reflects unfavourably on you?
- Do you dread some interactions at work and find ways to avoid having contact with some people or situations?
All of these can contribute to your anxiety. You may not feel you are anxious, however over time you can become unaware of what your body is telling you and you can also become quite adept at avoiding certain situations and some people simply out of habit. Your body places you in a constant state of awareness to allow you to react when the threat level becomes too great. This is the fight or flight response which means you may be likely to avoid or alternatively react aggressively in many otherwise normal situations.
This can’t be me
You may not notice your growing anxiety because we all do things that can distract us from uncomfortable feelings. This can include keeping busy, accepting tasks to avoid conflict, use of alcohol or drugs or simply avoiding situations. All of these strategies can not only remove you from the source of the anxiety, but they also mean you may be missing out on the things that are important to your life including your career and relationships.
What can I do?
If your behaviour is working for you – in other words you are being the person that you want to be then there is no issue. However if you feel that this constant state of alert which may be triggering avoidance and/or aggressive reactions is not who you want to be then mindfulness may be able to help.
January 4, 2017
