Everyone has experienced waves of anxiety at some point in their life. Remember being five years old, walking into Kindergarten and not knowing what to expect? Those butterflies in your stomach was the anxiety keeping you alert and engaged in a new environment. Anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing. It's primal and instinctual. Although we are not cave people anymore we do rely on those primal instincts. When those instincts become out of balance or misused it can be problematic. Anxiety is one of the most powerful sensations an individual can navigate. It can effect people with such force that it limits their social interactions, work, bodily functioning and relationships. People gravitate towards mind alterations such as drugs and alcohol to manage a reaction that seems uncontrollable.

Control is huge with anxiety. It's like a cycle. You anticipate or worry about an event or reaction and it's like you become trapped in your head. It can make you sick.

So how do you find relief from anxiety? It can take some time but working with a therapist will catapult change. You need to talk about your beliefs and assumptions. A therapist's curiosity should help with shifting presumptions that are holding you hostage. It's like holding a giant boulder and chipping away at it with a little pick ax. The process can be tedious and you may not feel like you're making progress until one day you will be like DONE. Believe me, I've seen it countless times. It's all you! I also like to plug in skill building with my work. Mindfulness is such a trendy term these days - it's like gluten of last year but I'm telling you it's amazing. I will write on Mindfulness in another post because it's so awesome it deserves it.

Anxiety can be reduced! Don't give up hope.