Hypervigilant Living: The Subtitle of Anxiety

Hypervigilance is a symptom of anxiety. Webster's defines hypervigilance as: Keenly watchful to detect danger. Wary. Ever awake and alert. Sleeplessly watchful. Hypervigilance is continually overdone awareness and it feeds anxiety. For the visual learner, imagine anxiety as a weed. Think of hypervigilance as the rain that cultivates the growth of a weed that eventually consumes your yard. If enough … Continue reading Hypervigilant Living: The Subtitle of Anxiety →

Maintenance

I took my daughter for an evening bike ride this week. For me, it's never just a bike ride. My mind can't help itself but drift to therapeutic analogies. As we took a ride, we quickly ran into a squeaky wheel situation. The single brake I had been relying on to not be squeaky, … Continue reading Maintenance →

Anxiety, Part 8: Solutions to Self-Talk

We have come to the last part in the series, I hope you have enjoyed it. Today we are going to end with solutions to self-talk. Similar to last week, I am going to be very practical. Self-talk. Self-talk is often located here on the anxiety cycle: If you didn't catch the first part on … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 8: Solutions to Self-Talk →

Anxiety, Part 6: Solutions to Triggers

Good Morning! We now come to everyone’s favorite part, the fixing! As we work through some potential solutions to managing your anxiety, be sure to manage your own expectations. If you have been struggling with anxiety for years, please do not expect overnight change, that would be unrealistic. What you can expect is some realistic change. … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 6: Solutions to Triggers →

Anxiety, Part 5: Putting it Together

Anxiety, Part 5: Putting the cycle together Now that we have looked at each part of the cycle in regards to awareness, let’s begin putting the big picture together. We talked about triggers, physical symptoms and self-talk. Start with the following example to see how the cycle can work together: Let’s say you experience anxiety when … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 5: Putting it Together →

Anxiety, Part 4: Self-talk

Just a quick detour from the anxiety cycle: This week I am reminded of the importance of monitoring expectations. Our expectations of ourselves and others are connected to our emotional health. In times of high stress and lots of change, please allow yourself the gift of lowered expectations. This past weekend my family and … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 4: Self-talk →

Anxiety, Part 3: Physical Symptoms

Hacks to manage anxiety are likely to fall short without an understanding of the anatomy of your anxiety. So today I want you to focus on physical symptoms of anxiety. Consider that physical symptoms of anxiety can often go unnoticed. Symptoms can be easily dismissed if they do not occur at the time of the … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 3: Physical Symptoms →

Anxiety, Part 2: Triggers

Let's be honest, my coffee is very strong this morning, so I am a tad spunky! However, my child is still sleeping so I have a few extra minutes to finish this post! Alright, let’s move to another part of anxiety. I want to introduce you to the visual of the anxiety cycle. … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 2: Triggers →

Anxiety, Part 1

I enjoy facilitating therapy groups and helping people develop awareness and skills to manage anxiety. Over the next several weeks, I am going to blog about the major principles of managing anxiety that I teach in my groups. First of all, anxiety is very common. I tend to believe that everyone is on the continuum … Continue reading Anxiety, Part 1 →

Identifying Codependency: When close is too close

A desire of mine is to bring an educational piece to my counseling. Personally, I grow a lot more through education and definitions. I imagine there are several other like-minded individuals out there. Today, I want to talk about codependence. This topic is near and dear to me as I have struggled with it. Learning … Continue reading Identifying Codependency: When close is too close →