Anxiety is our comfort zone

Hello Anxiety,

Let’s face it anxiety has got you running circles. However clichéd the image might now appear to be, anxiety has you fixed like a dog chasing its tail. Or rather if we were to put it into words (from an anxious mind), it's like travelling a train that doesn’t stop. But what if? And this is an if, that it wasn’t the train that didn’t stop, but rather it was you. You can’t get off at the next stop because you fear that unknown when you pass those scratched metal doors. It is the fear that disables us to get off a stop and make a decision.

Anxiety has us on autopilot. It is up to us to decide to put matters into our own hands and take the wheel. Okay, so I was a bit cheesy there. But, it helped get to the point, right? As strange as it sounds, and trust me it took quite a while to get my head around. Anxiety is our comfort zone. You’re confused, right? So was I, and like you the very of idea of putting the words anxiety and comfort zone in a sentence would have angered me. However, oddly enough this is true!

Anxiety is our comfort zone and everything else appears out of it. A few months ago when I became more relaxed in social situations or felt like I could cope with it more my brain started to get confuzzled. It sounds strange, but it was like my body couldn’t fathom as to why I wasn’t so anxious – that it wasn’t natural not to feel it. Then I had thoughts like whoa you should be feeling anxious right now – why aren’t you feeling anxious? It was fighting against me. You might have experienced this too?

So, why do we feel like this? How is it that when we feel anxious it feels as if we are in our comfort zone and when we don’t  we feel totally out of that comfortable circle? The answer is loud and clear. We need time. Often we have lived so long with these habits, years that when we break them it can take time to re-adjust. Just like if you have moved an object from where you would usually have it. You then have to consciously think of where you left it and retrace your steps. This is the same with us sometimes we will have to retrace our steps in order to become less anxious. But, it is important that you do. Like any young mind I can be impatient, and at times naively expect things to change in an instant. The reality is they don’t. Anything where the mind is involved takes time. And changing years of thinking and habits, is head down-and-keep-going sort of work.

I know now what you’re thinking…You are babbling on about this, but you haven’t told me how. I don’t have all the answers, though I can try. In my next post I will talk about some good techniques I found in a book about anxiety that can help.

I hope you all have had happy days. Talk to you on my next post!