Letting go of Anxiety through acceptance

If you are taking this path, chances are you struggle with anxiety and/or panic attacks. For most of us who do, we end up in a cycle of getting anxious, fearing the sensation of anxiety, getting lost in our thoughts, desperately wanting to feel anything but anxiety, and then repeat. Sounds familiar?

The good news is that there is a way to manage the anxiety better and eventually reduce the incidences when you feel anxious. The bad news is that it happens by working with anxiety, not against it. We are not asking you to fall in love with anxiety but instead acknowledge that it exists, that wishing it away is not helpful that you accept its existence. Anxiety is not a permanent feeling, even the days we think we are feeling anxious all the time, chances are we are focusing on the moments where we felt anxious.  

The next time you start to feel anxious/panic, simply pause for about 10 seconds as you regain your ability to think. Accept that you feel anxious, then realize that your job is to simply manage the feeling. Your body will take care of the feeling with time, you only need to make yourself comfortable as your nervous system takes care of the feeling. You can do this by doing a grounding exercise or focusing on your breath. The following video can be helpful.