Anxiety disorder sufferers constantly have a fearful and anxious thought that seems impossible to get out of their mind. The more they try to get rid of the thought, the more intense it becomes.
The fear can be of anything like
- The well being of a loved one
- Fear of a panic attack
- Losing control
- Never getting rid of the severe anxiety disorder
Whatever the fear may be, the pattern of this anxious thought is generally the same. It intensifies as you think more about it. And every time it comes back with more intense anxious shock-waves.
Let us examine how these anxious develop and linger even though you try very hard not to think about them.
You are doing your own thing, when suddenly an anxious thought comes to your mind.
The thought flashes for a moment in your mind and you find yourself contemplating the thought. Your body then reacts to the thought and sends a fearful shock wave throughout your body’s nervous system. You feel this wave more in your stomach than anywhere else. This is because of the large amount of nerve endings that are present in the stomach.
After your body reacts to the fearful thought, it becomes more prevalent and now it is even harder to not think about it. The fearful thought becomes more intense and sends more shock-waves through your body.
This is typically how an anxious thought take control of your mind.
These fearful thoughts are very common and every one in this world gets them. The difference between a normal person and anxiety disorder sufferer is that a normal person does not give so much importance to these thoughts. A normal person just takes them for what they are, i.e. anxious thoughts that are very common.
But an anxiety disorder sufferer is at a disadvantage over here because their anxiety baseline is at a lower level than a normal person. This basically means that their body and mind reacts to anxious thoughts much easier than a normal person’s mind would.
Now, if you approach the fearful thought in the beginning in a different manner then it might be possible decrease the intensity of the anxiety to a great level.
Instead of trying to get rid of the thought, all you have to do is accept it. If you try not to think about something, then the only thing you will be thinking about is that something.
Instead of running away from the thoughts, just stop and acknowledge them.
As soon as you get a fearful thought in your mind, take a different approach than you normally would. Try this approach for instance
“These are just normal fearful thoughts that everyone encounters. I can obsess over them and be miserable. But, this time I will try something different. I will just acknowledge them, and try best not to react. This is a fear of …….. I will just label it and continue doing whatever I was doing.”
That’s one of the best ways to deal with anxious thoughts.
Acknowledge them
Label Them
Let it pass along
Don’t try to get rid of it. Don’t try not to think about it. The harder you try, the worse it will get.
You can imagine it like a cloud passing over your head. It will go away by itself in short while.
And then you can continue doing whatever you were doing.
You can find your own way to deal with these thoughts. Just remember that you should not try to suppress them. Fearful thoughts are normal and there is no way you can stop having them. But you can change your attitude towards these thoughts and in doing so, you become free of the fear.
Once you are comfortable with dealing with these thoughts, you can take it a step further and invite these thoughts.
That’s right. Invite the fearful and anxious thoughts. Call them in.
It might sound like a crazy idea, but this is truly the best way to completely eliminate the fear of fear.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
And when you invite the fear, you are sending the message out that you are no longer afraid of the fearful thought. You are taking control.
