3 things that make anxiety worse (and how you can make it better)

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Common responses to anxiety that only make it worse. Do any of these apply to you? How can you practice responding differently?

Running away

Trying to escape anxiety is exhausting. We don’t like how it feels so we will do anything not to feel it.

We get busy, distracted, overloaded with other people’s stuff. And the anxiety gets louder, and we get overwhelmed and exhausted.

Pushing on

When we are not happy with how we feel we want to fix it. We want cures or closures.

When we don’t get them we become upset or angry.

Sometimes, in our push to sort things out we do, or say, things in haste that just make it worse.

We might feel completely consumed with the desire to have things be another way but it changes nothing, it just pours petrol on the fire. If we want to feel peaceful we have to make peace with our present situation as best we can.

Keeping it to yourself

We all need help and support sometimes.

If you are suffering - tell someone. Express how you are feeling and practice being open to receiving support.

Think about what you need. We all feel bad sometimes and there is no shame in saying so and asking for help.

For help avoiding these 3 things that make anxiety worse you can listen to the full podcast here: