Anxiety
Anxiety is a strong feeling of discomfort or worry in the body. Basically, anxiety is a survival reaction. It's a signal that something isn't right and that you should seek protection. A long time ago when we lived as hunters, anxiety fulfilled an important function – it made you aware of any threats in your surroundings. In today's safer society, the function is still there and it is sometimes triggered in situations that are not dangerous. The reaction can also be disproportionately strong.
There are different theories as to why anxiety occurs, one does not have to exclude the other. Whatever the cause and mechanism, we all agree that anxiety is an incredibly unpleasant experience. You don't have to live a life of crippling anxiety, there are ways to get free.
What happens in the body?
Anxiety activates the sympathetic part of your nervous system that prepares you to fend or escape.
The body then secretes a range of stress hormones that are tasked with activating different reactions in your body. Your pupils are dilating to give you extra attention to details. Your heart rate goes up for your body to pump more blood and oxygen into your muscles. This allows you to fight or run.
Your blood vessels dilate to increase blood flow to your main organs. It can make you feel faint. Your blood flow is redirected to your large vital organs and therefore your hands and feet are not prioritized, they get cold. You get out of breath and breathe faster to increase the amount of oxygen in your blood to your muscles, it can make you dizzy. In addition, it causes your hands, feet and mouth to tingle or tingle/tingle. Your body sweats to regulate the temperature and make you slippery. A slippery person has an easier time slipping out of someone's grasp.
You get sick in your stomach and feel sick because your body now prioritizes more important functions than your digestion. Similarly, you need to urinate often because your body doesn't prioritize keeping urine in your bladder. You get restless because your body is prepared to run and fight, not sit down and chill. You can't concentrate and think logically because the part of the brain that stands for logical thinking has been temporarily shut down. This is because you don't have time to think logically in a threatening situation. Instead, the blood is concentrated in the Amygdala, the part of the brain that contains the emotional center and that makes you react.
All symptoms are harmless and are due to your body for a while prioritising your most important organs for survival. The symptoms are hugely unpleasant and can in turn reinforce your fear and fuel your anxiety. It's going to be a vicious spiral. When you know that your symptoms are harmless and understand what their function is, it becomes easier to stay calm and not let the sensations increase your fear. It's amazing that the body can mobilize so quickly and so powerfully. This means that when you really get in danger, you can trust that your system will optimize your chances of survival.
Un expressed feelings
Anxiety can be a consequence of not expressing your feelings. When you withhold what you feel whether it's worry, fear, anger, stress, love, or any other emotion, anxiety can arise as a result of not being true to yourself. Many people learn from an early age to swallow down certain emotions and put a lid on it. If you're one of them, you may not even know how you're feeling. Unde expressed feelings manifest themselves in different ways. Maybe you're walking around with a discomfort that you can't put your finger on? Or a feeling of anger or disappointment that you can't find a reason for? It can be a grinding anxiety that you can't track or anxiety that occurs in specific situations.
Increased vulnerability to anxiety
There is research that shows that anxiety is to some extent hereditary. One can speculate if it is because you as a child are influenced by your parents and thus take over your mother's or father's anxiety. It can also be that humans are a herd animal and that a flock gains from being heterogeneous. Each individual in the group has different functions and talents to complement each other. One or two people need to be extra sensitive to threat signals so they can be on their guard and protect the group from danger. The genetic lot fell on you and your increased tendency to anxiety helped keep the pack safe.
It has also been seen that people with trauma in childhood and people living in social vulnerability are at greater risk of developing anxiety. Trauma and vulnerability can both be placed in the category of insecurity. If you have inner security, it is easier to explore the world and life. You can compare it to holding someone's hand while you go on an adventure. Without inner security, you become more responsive to danger and react with fear and anxiety about things that are outside your comfort zone. This basic security is usually built up in childhood. If you didn't have the conditions for you to build it up during your upbringing, it can be strengthened later in life. This also applies to those who, for one reason or another, have become insecure in adulthood.
Embrace all parts of yourself
There are both short-term ways to manage anxiety as well as methods and tools to actually reduce or completely get rid of it in the long run. If you're a person who has struggled a lot with anxiety, you probably have a sensitivity that makes you more likely to get anxiety boosts than others. You always have that sensitivity with you.
In situations where you are under pressure, you have an increased risk of anxiety hitting. Maybe you think it's a rivet? What you think right now is a rivet and an obstacle you will later realize actually gave you an incredible amount that other people miss out on. Anxiety forces you to get to know yourself. It has made you search for ways to feel better and led you into a path of self-exploration. A self-exploration that in addition to reducing your anxiety will make you a more conscious person. With increased self-awareness and awareness, you become a better leader, you can deepen your relationships, appreciate life, and make choices that align with your inner values. A person who does not make the inner journey risks pausing much later in life and realizing that the path they have followed has been led by others and without thoughtfulness. Perhaps with a feeling of having wasted their life on things that didn't matter because they hadn't figured out what really made sense.
A little comfort perhaps when it feels like anxiety is raging like a wild animal and breaking you apart inside and out. Trust that you will be fine and everything will be fine.
Be free from your anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling, a signal that something is not right. A signal that you're going to run. When you choose to escape, your anxiety disappears because you responded to the signal. In the long run, however, it will be strengthened because you confirm it. The more you isolate yourself from what you get anxiety from, the more sensitive you become to that kind of trigger and the anxiety knocks on a little earlier next time.
If you lack an inner security, it means that you have a job ahead of you that is to slowly but surely build up a stable foundation and a self-reliance. To start trusting that life will carry you and that you will be fine. It's about gaining both experience and tools. To start valuing and loving yourself and taking the anxiety in your hand when it comes to visit.
Think about what the anxiety stands for. Is it a sign that you don't live by your values? A sign that you don't feel safe in a given situation? A sign that you're not standing up for yourself? Are you afraid of failure or embarrassment? Maybe you're not expressing your feelings?
At Revitalized self-knowledge courses, you will have the opportunity to explore all parts of yourself in exceptionally safe conditions. We explore feelings and needs, what has affected you in life, and examine what you need to feel more freedom and start living life to the fullest.
