Common mistakes you make when trying to cope with anxiety
The majority of people, when faced with an anxiety condition, attempt to cope with it by acting unthinkingly. As a consequence of this, the problem will only continue to worsen, and anxiety may eventually turn into depression. It is important to be aware of the common mistakes people make when they believe they have a solution to the problematic condition of anxiety to prevent the anxiety from developing into something more serious.
You believe you will be able to find a solution to your anxiety all by yourself
If you have high intelligence, you are used to solving problems on your own, relying on the information and experience you have accumulated over the course of your life. The issue is that when anxiety is present, this type of brainstorming either fails to work as intended or proceeds in the wrong direction. When you are excited, your thoughts about the reasons become so messy that attempting to find a way out can lead to even more confusion and, as a result, to an increase in anxiety. This is because when you are excited, your thoughts about the reasons become blurry. When something like this happens, you start thinking that you can’t trust your mind and feel restlessness.
Instead of coming up with solutions to the problem on your own, you could list potential ways out of the difficult circumstance that is causing you to stress and include another person in the conversation about the problem. Given that his mind is not clouded by excitement and that he can approach the matter with a level head, he will be able to determine whether or not this was the true cause of the anxiety and whether or not it will assist in coping with it.
You are biased against your character
Let’s be honest: most people, even if they claim to have an unhealthy lack of self-esteem, still harbor preconceptions about their own persona. People tend to believe that their minds are flawless and cannot err and that they do not have any blind spots in their thinking. Additionally, there is no room for obvious flaws that he would be aware of due to constant meaningful introspection; these flaws would be obvious to him.
However, the fact of the matter is that everybody has mental flaws, and the majority of the time, those flaws are the source of the anxious state and make it difficult to deal with excitement. Because of this, it is essential to acknowledge the imperfections within oneself rather than searching for others to blame. And no, this is not a sign of weakness; on the contrary, you need to be strong to look for reasons first and foremost within yourself, and only then look for them outside of yourself in the surrounding environment. Your ability to think clearly will improve due to this attitude, and when you let go of the bias, you will be one step closer to being free of anxiety.
You put your life on hold, focusing solely on your anxiety
When anxiety takes hold, the mind interprets the current situation as something that can’t be put off until a later time. We are under the impression that if we do not find a solution to the problem right now, it will continue to snowball down the mountain and eventually crush us under its weight. This thought process is reasonable, at least in situations with a genuine danger to one’s life and the accompanying anxiety. In other circumstances, finding an immediate solution to the problem of anxiety and putting one’s life on hold is not a rational course of action.
If you allow anxiety to consume you, you won’t be able to see how a shadow of your former self is replacing you. Your attempt to cope with anxiety in the here and now will probably only make it seem even more serious, even though it is not. Given that our minds tend to exaggerate problems, this outcome is likely.
Therefore, it is preferable to keep living your life in the same manner as before rather than allowing your thoughts about dealing with anxiety to run out of control and consume all of your attention. This does not imply putting the problem on the back burner; rather, it implies that you should abstain from diving headfirst into it.
You judge yourself rudely for having a “false alarm”
It’s natural to feel anxious because our bodies are connected to do so to protect us from potentially harmful circumstances. Another aspect to consider is the circumstances in which fighting anxiety is required, even in the most insignificant situations. You should not put off going to the doctor if you are experiencing this, as it is already considered a psychological disorder. However, even in these circumstances, a “false alarm” is not necessarily bad and should not be viewed as a negative experience. Furthermore, it would help if you did not criticize yourself for being overly vigilant, nor should you view it as a reason to be angry with yourself.
It is important not to start berating yourself because you are again experiencing anxiety from the ground up. This is because the situation can repeat the old parable about the boy and the wolves, in which the young man deceived the villagers by shouting that predators had come. Then, when they appeared in the village, no one reacted because they thought it was another lie. Here, it is important not to start berating yourself because you are once again experiencing anxiety from the ground up. Only in this scenario will you stop trusting yourself and run the risk of not reacting to the excitement you feel because you will believe this is just another instance of a “false alarm.”
You believe that anxiety is to blame for everything bad that happens
A loud sound is only a notification that an extraordinary situation has occurred, such as someone hitting the car on the wheels. The alarm itself is just the echoes of problems, like an alarm that went off on a car: a loud sound only notifies that an extraordinary situation has occurred. It’s the same thing with anxiety; it’s just a feeling that your body uses to alert you to a problem that already exists or a situation that could become potentially dangerous. Getting rid of your anxiety won’t solve the problem; all it will do is mask the symptoms.
Getting rid of the alarm condition should not be your top priority because doing so is just as pointless as permanently turning off the car’s alarm. This is why it is important not to make getting rid of the alarm condition your top priority. The noise stops after a while, but the reason the alarm went off in the first place is still a mystery. If you ignore your anxiety, the underlying issue will not be addressed and will likely continue to fester into a more significant problem over time. Instead, stop attributing your problems to anxiety and view it as your early warning system. This will help you avoid the situation that you are trying to avoid.