Anxiety

Many of us experience anxiety on a daily basis. In fact, some anxiety can actually be helpful! A certain amount of anxiety, stress or tension might be what motivates us to study, go to work, or feed our goldfish that we almost keep forgetting about. However, anxiety becomes an issue when it reaches levels that no longer serve us in our daily lives.

Too much anxiety can become distracting, overwhelming and sometimes can paralyze us from making decisions or moving forward in our lives. We start to feel like we should be able to have it all, do it all - perfectly, by the way - and that we shouldn’t need anyone else’s help. For some, anxiety is centred around one aspect of our life such as career, or relationships. For others, anxiety can pop up out of nowhere, or be present all the time, making it hard to enjoy anything. It’s also common for anxiety and depression show up together; you might find yourself flipping between periods of high anxiety and feeling numb, exhausted and shut down.

Often, anxiety is described in the following ways.

Perhaps some of these resonate with you.

 

  • I’m so stuck in my head, and constantly ruminating that I find it hard to focus on anything but anxiety

  • I hold myself to extremely high standards and feel like others judge me silently unless I’m doing everything perfect

  • It’s become difficult to enjoy anything or be present, as I’m constantly bracing for what could go wrong

  • I get angry and annoyed for no reason, then feel guilty after

  • Sometimes I’m so anxious I feel nauseous and unable to breathe properly

  • Anxiety paralyzes me. I’ve started to avoid any situations where anything could go wrong. I’m afraid it will get to the point were I can’t even leave my house.

 

How counselling for anxiety can help

Anxiety can be a result of many things, including ongoing stress, trauma, family of origin issues, bullying, being told you aren’t good enough, or even learning/believing that showing emotions are a sign or weakness and that you need to be ‘stronger’ or ‘soldier on’.

Anxiety counselling can help you start to develop clear strategies to implement in your life when anxiety gets in the way of what’s important to you. To help address the root causes of your anxiety, your counsellor will work together with you to create a more supportive inner framework that both helps you feel empowered to live in line with your values while slowing down your thoughts, and allowing yourself to feel calm and relaxed, and more secure in the world.

 

All of our counsellors specialize in working with anxiety. If you would like guidance in selecting a counsellor, please head to our Connect with a Counsellor form, or to learn more about how each of our counsellors work with anxiety, connect with us to book a free consultation call.