Anxiety Guide Lesson 1: Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety

1. What purpose does stress serve in our daily lives?

Stress reminds us of the tasks that need doing and the pressure we have on us to finish. It's our body's way of keeping ourselves safe. But sometimes stress becomes too much, or becomes irrational.

2. Where do we draw the lines between rational stress and irrational anxiety?

For me, rational stress is stress that helps me to be productive. For example, I know I have a blog overdue to get to Laura, and that's a bit of a stressor right now :P But that's a good stressor! It reminds me that I have to get things done.

Irrational anxiety, meanwhile, isn't helpful at all. It's either so overwhelming that it paralyzes us (keeping us from being productive at all), it exists over situations we cannot control, it exists for no identifiable purpose at all, or the amount of anxiety we feel is disproportionate to the threat of the situation.

3. Has stress ever been a negative influence in your life?

I have mild social anxiety, as well as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Because of these, stress is almost constantly a negative influence in my life. I am constantly blowing situations out of proportion and feeling fears that make no sense. For example, I am terrified talking on the phone. This fear makes no sense!! There's no immediate danger, there's nothing threatening me. But the idea of speaking to somebody through the phone scares me so much that it's paralyzing. And this has unfortunately inhibited my life in a lot of ways.

This is just one example of many. I've gotten good at identifying irrational anxiety over the years. In short, I consider my anxiety to be irrational when it does more harm in my life than good.

4. Has stress ever been a positive influence in your life?

Well, it's stress that's going to get me to write that blog and send it over to Laura...

5. When does selfcare become a priority over productivity?

I think that selfcare always needs to be a priority. We need to be our best selves before we can do our best work. However, not everyone has the ability to call in sick to work or school because they need a self care day. The world goes on even if we're struggling.

Because of this, I think it's important to know techniques to manage anxiety. Living with anxiety is a constant uphill battle. Taking care of ourselves is important, but we shouldn't stop our lives entirely. Moving forward is often exactly what we need to combat our anxiety! But we can also reach out in places like 7cups when we need to vent, learn more about our own thoughts and triggers, and become self-aware enough to change the thoughts at the root.

6. If we've identified the anxiety we're feeling as irrational, how can we change the root of our thoughts and behaviors to diminish the fear?

The anxiety guide talks about this! The first strategy, and most effective for me, iscognitive restructuring. This is when we take a moment to evaluate the situation and the danger. When talking to a member about anxiety they're feeling, ask the following questions as they're appropriate (different situations merit different questions):

What is the most likely outcome of this situation?

What is the root of your fear?

How is your anxiety helping you to be productive?

What is the most immediate threat or danger in your situation?

Another note - when asking members questions, try to avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. You want to get the member to think past their anxiety and recognize the true level of danger they are or aren't in.

The second strategy is relaxation training. One thing I always tell members experiencing anxiety to do is to take deep breaths. Once they've controlled their breathing and are not in danger of hyperventilating, I tell them to breathe in for a count of 7 and out for 11. Breathing out longer than you breathe in sends a message to your body, saying, "I am safe, I am not in danger." Subsequently, your body shuts off your adrenaline. It's a relaxation technique I use whenever I get scared or anxious, and it's really effective!

The third strategy isovercoming avoidance. In an anxiety-inducing situation, our first instinct might be to escape the situation. If a homework assignment is causing stress, we might skip it entirely. If a coworker is causing stress, we might avoid them. Avoiding situations that make you anxious can help you feel better initially, but the dread still remains.

If possible, try exposing yourself to the situation in small doses. Just a few problems at a time on that homework assignment, just a few passing words with your coworker. And don't be afraid to ask for help from others if you need it!

The fourth strategy ismedication. The medications that a person chooses to use are entirely up to them, and we cannot make a person's medical decisions for them. That is between them and their doctor; they know what is best for them. For some people, anti-anxiety medications can help correct a chemical imbalance in the brain. I take antidepressants/anti-anxiety medicine for this reason, and it's very helpful for me! But each person's journey is up to them.

all of my answers are just opinons!

~~
1. What purpose does stress serve in our daily lives?

Stress can be good for us in small doses, stress can help us get a specific task done! however to much stress can cause anxiety and then we will freak out which will add more stress

2. Where do we draw the lines between rational stress and irrational anxiety?

rational stress is more across the lines of" I am stressed because I have a huge project due in two days" That is a good stress because it is going to motivate you to get your project done. Irrational anxiety is something you worry about that is not at all supposed to worry about and its more across the lines of being silly for example my irrational anxiety is running out of pens, it is something very irrational and something I should not be worried about but I will always have atleast 5 pens with me at a time!

3. Has stress ever been a negative influence in your life?

Oh yes! I become a stress ball super easy. I stress over very small things as well as big things.I have gotten to the point where I had to take a week of school and just do nothing to calm my body down.Some weeks it gets really bad where my whole body stiffens up and I can hardly move and almost in tears by all the knots that I gainthen I have to go get a massage! ( no complaining there)I still get stressed easy and I have to learn to use different methods to help my stress.

4. Has stress ever been a positive influence in your life?

Yes! I procrastinate more then I should lol! so when it comes down to getting things done stress has always helped me get it done faster!

5. When does self-care become a priority over productivity?

Self care becomes a priority when you see yourself decreasing, falling into depression, getting more anxious etc! we need to find a stable amount of time we spend on self care! We need to make sure we okay before we can do anything because if we not okay we going to battleto get anything done!

6. If we've identified the anxiety we're feeling as irrational, how can we change the root of our thoughts and behaviors to diminish the fear?

Depending on how bad the anxiety is I would say you can do one of the following!

1) connect to one of 7 cups amazing listeners!

2) seek support from your friends or family

3) start asking yourself questions as to why you getting anxious over certain things

4) seek therapy

5) See a doctor about going on prescribed medication