Why is anxiety so debilitating? Stop it before it consumes you.

Have you tried everything to address your debilitating anxiety and nothing is working? Anxiety is CONSUMING you. 5 tips to finally turn it off!

Understanding the Purpose

of DEbilitating Anxiety

Anxiety serves a purpose: to help us avoid danger. Without this innate sense of threat detection, we might step on a snake who could hiss at us and bite our ankle, or give our money to a thinly veiled con artist. So our Spidey sense of risk helps keep us safe from impending doom. But what if no doom is lurking? 

When does normal anxiety

become debilitating anxiety?

Regular anxiety can turn debilitating when our worries become out of proprotion to any threat. In reality, the threat is not imminent or even that likely. Yet, overblown worries start to overtake our minds. Worse, because there is often a kernel of truth to our fears, we can point to concrete reasons for our distress and panic. Proof!  

This (innacurate) proof feeds our anxiety, allowing it to grow into a debilitating anxiety monster. Once intended as a function to protect you, anxiety begins to OVERconsume you. 

What does it mean to be

frozen with debilitating anxiety?

Let paralysis ensue.

When driven by fear, we are doomed to avoid saying what we intend to, or if we do, are destined to replay everything we could have said better.

This is what makes debilitating anxiety so crippling. We convience ourselves that the world is ending (Ok, that’s a bit extreme) or about to get unbearably worse. We are especially unlucky. Or, sometime even worse: if we are lucky, we feel, well, guilty about it.  

Surprise, surprise. When things feel this bad, we feel stuck. Instead of moving forward or engaging in the world, we wonder the peril inside our own head. 

Avoidance Doesn’t Work When

Dealing with Debilitating Anxiety

The more we try to avoid these swirling thoughts of dread, the more they come racing back. I mean, talk about debiliting anxiety. We try to ignore it-hold strong against the debilitating nature-only for it to come back and land in our laps. If anxiety were a lap dog, it would be a shivering chihuahua on an icy night in Maine (which is NOT cozy). 

Obsessive or intrusive thoughts interfere with relationships, work and/or school. Worst of all, they corrupt our overall peace of mind. High levels of anxiety can lead to avoidance of activities or make the situations that you do participate in dreadfully stressful. 

Self Reinforcement Is A

Powerful Tool Fuel for

Debilitating Anxiety

These anxious thought patterns and tendencies that accompany debilitating anxiety are biochemical in nature.

The longer anxious thoughts persist, the more entrenched they become.

Since we are in Maine… think of the preferred pathways that water from melting snow takes down the side of a mountain. Each time that water passes a certain route, it cuts a tiny bit of hard earth away, and picks up a little bit of speed. And while subtle day–to–day and year–to–year, over time, the water at some point reaches such momentum that it is rushing and starts to gush. Much like the thoughts in our brain can become unstoppable.  

Wanting to tackle your

debilitating anxiety?

Try Reframing and Retraining

The more that you worry, the more entrenched these thoughts become in your brain. But, it is possible to reverse the cycle of debilitating anxiety. You can learn to reframe and retrain your perceptions and cognitive processing. Every time that you push back against the gush of water, you slightly change the course. When the force is too much to handle on your own, there is help and hope to create new ways of thinking.  

Five Simple Cognitive Tricks to

Turn Off Debilitating Anxiety

#1 Challenge Your Catastrophizing

Instead of thinking, “If I mess up this presentation, I’ll be fired and end up as a professional pet rock painter,” remind yourself that making a mistake won’t lead to a lifetime of disaster. Picture it as a minor hiccup in a sitcom episode – it’s awkward but temporary. Give yourself a gentle reality check and keep going.

#2 Practice Sense Awareness

When anxiety hits, your mind can feel like a blender without a lid. Instead, focus on the present moment. Try to be a detective of your own senses: “I smell coffee, I see a tree, I hear construction outside.”  

Bonus points if you can add some light poetry. Example: I smell coffee, down the hall, heck yeah. OR I see the graceful sway of the tree, OR The construction outside is a funky white noise machine. Bonus points if you spot a pigeon strutting like it owns the place – and get inspired. 

Just taking the time to create these images and thoughts takes mental work, which is time you’re not ruminating. 

#3 Focus on What You’ve Done Right

Turn “I’m going to fail this test” into “I’ve studied a lot today. And, even though I didn’t do as much studying as I wanted this weekend, I had good times with friends.” It’s like transforming a gloomy day into a chance to wear your favorite rain boots.

#4 Be Your Biggest Fan

Tell yourself, “I’ve got this,” even if you don’t entirely believe it yet, or at all. Pretend you’re your own cheerleader, complete with imaginary pom-poms and an enthusiastic chant.

#5 Limit Information Overload 

If your anxiety spikes when you read the news or go on social media, take a break. Ignorance isn’t bliss, but it can be a nice vacation spot. Think of it as a mental spa day. Schedule a few hours each workday to just not look at the news or your feed. Make this mental spa appointment with yourself a priority AND KEEP IT.  

There is Hope for you (even with

debilitating anxiety)