4 tips to overcome anxiety and take control of your life

What is anxiety? Throughout my experience I have been able to reach different conclusions about what anxiety is for me. But one of the definitions that I like the most is: anxiety is the accumulation of a series of emotions not transcended and or not managed at the time.

Next I am going to develop a little more this phrase that I like so much so that it can be understood and integrated more clearly.

• Related article: "Types of Anxiety Disorders and their characteristics"

Understanding anxiety

When we are very young, nobody teaches us what emotions are, what role they play in our life and how to recognize them in order to manage them in due course and prevent them from accumulating in the form of stagnant energy in our body.

And what happens next? Well, we become adults, and suddenly we wake up living a life where we don't recognize ourselves; one that we live automatically and without stopping for a second.

We get up, we automatically look at our cell phones, we soak up external information while we have breakfast, we go to a job where we cannot express in an authentic way and in which we do not feel valued and we return home extremely tired and without a hint of energy to continue with the rest of our day.

Until one day, when you least expect it... BOOM! You explode! Your first Anxiety Attack on the way to work. Although at the time you didn't know it was a panic attack because you were too busy trying guess what was happening to your body, and probably believing that you were going to die in that precise instant.

And what do you think has happened to your body? Well, I couldn't take it anymore! After the fifty thousand signals that it has been sending you throughout your life and which you ignored, there has come a time when He told you either stop, or I'll stop you.

The body is the subconscious, and the subconscious is the body. Your subconscious has been sending you signals through your body all the time, but you have not been able to recognize them.

It's not your fault; as I have commented before, no one teaches us to identify these signs nor do we come with a manual on how life works. On the contrary, we live in an egoic society in which we are valued for the job we have, how much we earn or the social status we have.

In the end, all of this unconsciously generates a lot of pressure and demands, and we feel like we are “obliged” to continue in a work that we hate (even experiencing high levels of anxiety or panic attacks on a daily basis in the workplace) because if we leave, It seems that we have already abandoned everything we fought for in its day.

But really this is one more lie that your ego is telling you so that you do not face your demons and continue in your uncomfortable comfort. The truth is that you do not want to face those demons because you have fear of change and you are afraid of uncertainty, and that prevents you from taking action in your life.

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To do?

It is not your fault that you have reached this point, it is not your fault that anxiety has appeared in your life, but it is it is your responsibility to do something about it and take charge of your current situation. And for this I am going to explain to you below the 4 steps to follow to take responsibility for your reality and live a much fuller and more authentic life.

1. Be aware of your thoughts

Your negative thought patterns come from limiting beliefs that have been created by past experiences, by the society we live in and by mom and dad (the way you grew up).

Identify if those beliefs are really yours or come from other sources and begin to dismantle them to really know where they come from.

• Related article: "What mental problems are associated with intrusive thoughts?"

2. Do not identify with those thoughts

When we identify with our ego and we believe those thoughts that do not allow us to move forward, it is when there are limitations. It is true that nobody has explained to us what the ego really is and how it operates in our psyche, but I assure you that it always operates from fear and never from love.

3. Be aware of your body

Emotions or sensations in the body are preceded by thought, so in this way we can identify when we have created anxiety (because we have observed thought). It is also true that sometimes the thoughts go so fast that we do not realize it and we already feel anxiety; nothing happens, I explain it in the next point.

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4. Connect with the feeling

When you already find yourself with anxiety in the body, look at which part of the body you feel most intense and connect with that area. Just allow yourself to feel it without ignoring it, getting distracted by something, or avoiding it; try to find a quiet place and sit down inhaling and exhaling deeply and letting it be. You can also repeat to yourself "everything is fine inside me, this is momentary or I have the resources to get out of this situation".

Concluding ...

I hope that this article has helped you to deepen more in yourself and that you begin to practice the four steps so that anxiety does not limit you in your day to day. Remember that this is a process and that how you talk to yourself is very important when it comes to overcoming the different challenges that life presents you.