The One Thing You Need To Stop Doing If You Want To Overcome Anxiety

anxiety about anxiety anxiety audit anxiety causes anxiety help anxiety tips overcoming anxiety Apr 07, 2022
overcome anxiety

I get daily messages from people over on Instagram and FB asking for help with their anxiety. Sometimes I even get to have single session "anxiety audits" with them where we look at the reasons for their anxiety and identify what it is that keeps it stuck. I've had a few conversations recently that highlighted the one thing you need to stop doing if you want to overcome anxiety.

What Most People Do To Overcome Anxiety

Simply put... Everything. 

They try EVERYTHING. And maybe this is you? They try Yoga and Meditation and then hear about a different naturopath or energy healer. They try sound healing, cold immersion and a new regime of vitamins. They hear Pilates is good for anxiety, or gentle walking. So they add these exercises to their to-do list. 

They eat less sugar, more whole foods. Cut out meat or add more lean meat. They sleep more. Or less. Listen to specific podcasts or watch the latest YouTube video on how to curb anxiety.

Literally EVERYTHING.

And it becomes so exhausting. 

The Trap Of Doing More

The sneaky thing about anxiety is that it removes your confidence in yourself. Most people with anxiety will doubt their own decisions. So after a while they begin to wonder whether they are, perhaps, exercising too much or have cut out too many carbs. The worry that they have missed something and are not practicing the meditation or Yoga in the "right" way. 

They become anxious about all the strategies and healing interventions they are trying. 

And it begins to feel like they are on a bit of a hamster wheel... Always looking for the next best thing that might be the miracle cure to their anxiety. 

What a trap this creates, right? 

All this running around trying to find something that works is only creating more anxiety and the very thing they are trying to avoid is being created before their very eyes.

Less Is More

The real key to overcoming anxiety is to stop the vicious cycles of stuck anxiety. The only way you can truly do this is by stopping the anxiety about anxiety. 

It means stopping all the behaviours that create more anxiety. 

And that means that the one thing you must stop doing if you want to overcome anxiety is trying everything under the sun to be rid of it.

That doesn't mean you should just give up on trying to find what works. However, throwing spaghetti at the wall in a mad attempt to see what sticks is a surefire way to get you all ramped up and anxious... And things are less likely to stick when you are feeling extra anxious too.

Less is more when it comes to overcoming anxiety.

Find Targeted Interventions

Yes... Yoga works. As does meditation, exercise, decent sleep, supplements and various healing methodologies. But not every intervention will be effective for every person. 

You see, anxiety is not the problem. When you are trying to target the anxiety itself, then you are missing the mark. There is a reason for your anxiety and that is the problem.

When you understand what your reasons are then it is easier to identify the problem and find an intervention that solves it.

In this way you can do less, remove the pressure, and know that what you are trying is more likely to hit the mark in overcoming your anxiety... Plus you haven't created more anxiety in the process. 

The Unstuck Initiative is all about helping you shift anxiety so that it becomes UNstuck so if you need help in finding out why you're struggling with anxiety in the first place and what YOU need to do then start with the free mini course:

The 4 Secrets To Shift Anxiety For Good & Avoid Relapse