Breaking The Anxiety - Worry Addiction

“I feel stuck or frozen in my life”
“I feel like it is impossible to reach out for help or pursue my goals”
“I feel like something bad will happen at any time”
“I constantly worry about the past or future”
“My brain never shuts off”
“I wake at 2 am every night with a racing mind”
“I get so overloaded I can't think”
“I get digestive upset before or during stressful events”

These are some of the common experiences people with anxiety share.
Why is anxiety so difficult? In part, it is because anxiety is a self-fulfilling condition. Meaning it is designed to reinforce itself over time.

Some things that strengthen anxiety include:

Uncontrolled worry

Isolation or holding things internally

Stigma, including self-stigma

Avoidance

Perfectionism

Automatic thoughts

It makes sense that it does this because ultimately anxiety was made to protect us from harm. Just like pain! Not only that, anxiety often feels stimulating at lower levels. It makes us more active and allows us to achieve our goals! These are just a few of the positives of anxiety.

It is no wonder anxiety is so difficult to recover from. It's in our DNA to be anxious.In a way, all these factors make anxiety similar to any addiction. This is especially true for worry.

I remember when I was in my 20s I learned that I had anxiety. When I first began my anxiety journey I had to start small. I remember at first, I wasn’t able to do the things that everyone else told me to do like breathing and mindfulness because it was too overwhelming.

So how do we break the anxiety-worry addiction? We need to build new neural pathways by practicing mindfulness techniques. Worry is generally directed at past and future events so the way to break the cycle is to build a routine to bring our awareness to the present moment. To do this we need to be aware of our thoughts.