Anxiety is a normal somewhat regular emotional experience for everyone.  It does not discriminate in the sense that it can occur at any moment to anyone in any situation. Most of the time, to most people, the emotion can come and go in relatively short period time. We may even experience it and not fully realize that anxiety occurred. In most cases as we go through the day, we experience anxiety along with a whole world of other emotions. However, there are moments where anxiety is overwhelming or overtaking in our lives. The challenge in those moments is how does one manage it and function during a high level of anxiety.  My hope is to help people understand anxiety in different parts: what is its function, why do you respond the way you do, and what are some ways to challenge it.

One thing that needs to be acknowledged is that anxiety does have a purpose. People are supposed to have the emotional experience of anxiety. So, the hope or goal of feeling anxious would be less helpful than feeling anxious and managing it in the moment. Feeling anxious can be channeled in order to help a person. For instance, a firefighter going in a burning building will likely experience a high level of anxiety. The anxiety can be channeled to create some sense urgency and ideally focus while trying to fight the fire and/or save people. So, anxiety is supposed to have a function, but we do not want anxiety to impair one’s ability to function. Anxiety at its essence is supposed to make you uncomfortable so you do something to make yourself feel more uncomfortable.

When a high level of anxiety has set in people can respond to it in a variety way that can be problematic. People can find themselves having a fight, flight, or freeze response. Either one can happen or a combination of the three which in any case can be problematic. With the fight response people will have a chaotic or panicked response to the anxiety. In that one will likely make quick instant reactions or impulse decisions. There are several examples of this. For instances if someone was on a boat taking on water and they have a fight response they may jump into the water without considering different variables such as finding a flotation device (life vest, raft), analyzing water conditions (is the water to cold or too rough to swim in), signally for help (flares, radio), etc. In that event the impulsive decision due to extreme anxiety could led to a more unsafe situation than the original one or at least make matters worse. Another example of a fight response to anxiety would be if someone is public speaking and has a fight response they could begin speaking rapidly or possibly stuttering and stammering which would make it difficult for them to communicate whatever information they are trying to share. The fight response is about how one is trying to process information at a rapid pace and not slowing down to do so. The flight response is simpler in that essentially one tries to avoid whatever in creating anxiety. So, if you do not expose yourself to the thing that creates anxiety you don’t feel the anxiety at least at a high level because sometimes just thinking about it will cause some anxiety. The problem is that the more you do avoid the more comfortable it gets, and the more uncomfortable anxiety becomes. Now this may not seem like a problem but what if you are continuously avoid something like public speaking if you ever have a situation like with a job or your education that requires public speaking you now must face the anxiety (and likely have a fight or freeze response) or risk jeopardizing your education or job. Ultimately avoiding does not work because you can avoid anxiety for so long before you either must face it or begin isolating in life. Lastly the freeze response is the experience of feeling overwhelmed and then do nothing at all. If we use the example of public speaking this would be someone that during a speech is unable to speak at all due the anxiety feeling so overwhelmed. One can even freeze to the point of dissociating. For anyone when has not seen this before it is when someone is still conscience and awake but does not respond to the people and world around them. A fourth response that begins with any of the three would be a panic attack. This would be responding to anxiety in the most extreme ways. Panic attack is going to feel like a medical event (not able to breath, rapid heart rate, sweating, etc.) but really it is all psychological.

Now how does one need to deal with anxiety. First off anxiety should be addressed if it is causing challenges functioning in day-to-day life with work, school, relationships, etc. due to anxiety getting in the way. There are situations that cause extreme anxiety like riding a roller coaster or swimming, but you don’t necessarily have to find a way cope it would really depend on how motivated you are to learn how to cope with it. In any situation there are some basics you can understand or do to help with anxiety. First and most importantly and I say this all the time to clients is that you will need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. You must understand that anxiety is common emotion we experience as humans, and it does not feel comfortable for anyone. Those who manage it better than others accept that they are going to feel uncomfortable and able to sit the feeling but also understand that the feeling will eventually pass. With that there are different things that you can do to help you with that feeling in the moment. Preparation will help in that if you know or can expect something will make you feel anxious having a plan of how to deal with it is a good start.  A plan can include but would not be limited to planning on what you say or knowing what actions you can take when you start to feel the anxiety take over. A plan will help you slow you thought process which will help curb the strength of the emotional response. Another thing you can do in general is being mindful of your bodies response to anxiety and regulating it. This could include taking slow deep breaths, drinking some cool water, or removing any extra clothing such as a jacket in order to cool off. I would also suggest that in order to deal with it let other people who you feel comfortable with and have a close relationship with that you have a problem with anxiety. This could allow for another person to be with you to remind you of actions you can take in order to manage anxiety. Lastly, I would encourage anyone who is finding that anxiety is become a hinderance or debilitating to seek out counseling. A therapist will work with someone to help them understand what is causing their anxiety and then enacting strategy to finding ways to manage the anxiety that is specific to that individual. My prayer is that anybody who is having this challenge find healing and no longer be held back from being able to find joy in the things that they do.