Anxiety is, for many people, a challenge that must be faced almost daily. Although the ability to feel anxious is a resource that has allowed us to survive for thousands of generations, sometimes it can be difficult for us to frequently experience the feelings and situations to which it gives rise.
Fortunately, human beings are an extraordinarily adaptable animal, and therefore, although we cannot fully control our emotions or 100% prevent their appearance, we do have the ability to manage them and partly channel them in one direction or another.
So that… How to learn to manage anxiety? In this short article we will see several key ideas about this.
As we have known for a long time, it is impossible to pretend not to experience anxiety of any kind simply because it is an experience linked to some discomfort or discomfort. Not only is it biologically impossible, but it is also pragmatically absurd.
And anxiety is a set of psychological and physiological processes that helps us prioritize our objectives and predisposes us to react quickly to avoid problems that take us away from them, and because of this, it is useful from the point of view of evolution: it helps us survive.
But It is one thing to have or not to have anxiety, and another is our way of making it influence our behavior.. In this we do have a respectable margin of maneuver, and that is why although we cannot suppress the content of this set of emotions, we can influence “the form” they take. And this is because humans have a great facility to adapt to what happens to us.
Not only can we learn; Furthermore, we can learn to learn, that is, apply strategies and techniques to facilitate the development of skills and the acquisition of useful knowledgeboth about the environment and about ourselves.
So, when learning to manage anxiety, keep these tips in mind.
1. Develop the habit of self-observation
In order to gain freedom when experiencing anxiety, it is necessary to first know what mental routes it usually takes us through when we put it on “autopilot” and limit ourselves to experiencing it passively. This way, everything that comes after will be much easier.
Therefore, it is advisable to have a place on hand where write down what anxiety makes us feel, when it arises, and the situations in which it appears. This takes some practice, but if you maintain a certain consistency over the weeks, it is easy to see progress in self-knowledge.
2. Assume that you will have to learn by doing, not just by theory
Anxiety rarely appears in isolation in the individual; Normally, it is a phenomenon linked to certain contexts: the University, a family dinner, an event in which you have to speak in public, a first date, etc. In all these situations there are a series of (pessimistic) expectations that can lead to the appearance of anxiety.
Although it cannot be denied that expectations have a real expression in our minds, it cannot be denied that they are, in part, an imagined, subjective phenomenon. However, Knowing that all those catastrophic thoughts that pass through our minds are just ideas and beliefs does not mean that we are capable of mastering them..
Therefore, it is important to rule out the possibility of learning to manage anxiety simply by reflecting on the irrationality of our fears. We must prove to ourselves that we are irrational by interacting with what we fear.
3. Identify what costs you the least and what costs you the most
It is essential that you do not push yourself too hard when exposing yourself to situations that generate anxiety. At the same time, you cannot always stay in what is often called “comfort zone”: without a certain level of effort and discomfort, there is no progress.
That’s why, First of all, you should set yourself relatively simple and easy challenges. in which you will try to maintain a healthy attitude and behavior in the face of something that causes you anxiety, and when you achieve it consistently, move on to another situation that is a little more complicated and difficult.
4. Detect unhealthy anxiety management patterns
Many times, Anxiety problems are reinforced by what we do to try to alleviate the discomfort it produces..
For example, there are those who eat when they feel a lot of distress and stress, so that they develop an inappropriate eating pattern that makes them feel worse. Identifying situations of this type in oneself is key to progress.
Take this as if it were learning a new language: it will surely take you months to master this new knowledge, but along this journey, it will be easier for you to move forward if you set specific short and medium-term goals. In fact, This is one of the most basic motivation principles: Combining ambitious goals with those we can achieve on a daily basis helps us move forward.
