Finding Your Why - The First Step to Dealing With Anxiety - Anxiety Course Day 1/30

Many people just want their anxiety to go away. They just don’t want to feel it. They imagine that if they didn’t feel anxious, their lives would be so much better and so they set that as their goal. “My goal is to not feel so anxious”. But when your goal is to feel less of something, you essentially have to cut something out of your life, and the problem with that is that your world shrinks, it becomes more miserable, and then your anxiety actually grows.

The only way to make your anxiety go away completely is to avoid the things you care about in life. Just like those kids who decided to not audition, if your only goal is to “feel less” - to feel less sad, to feel less stress - then you’ll end up shrinking your life away.

Instead, in this course I’m going to teach you how to get better at feeling. Yes, your anxiety will most likely decrease. But way more importantly, the goal of this course is to make your life awesome again. To fill your life with the things you care about- the people and experiences that you’ve cut out, the dreams and accomplishments that you’re afraid to try, to bring richness and joy back to your day instead of worry and fear.

The difference between anxiety and an anxiety disorder is not severity, it’s how your response impacts your functioning.

Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.
In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

[tortillachips-nndj]

My goals:
-self respect and firm boundaries with myself
-develop self confidence and stop doubting myself
-not feel like it's the end of the world with small normal things
-accept the things i can't change and strive with the things I can
-be comfortable with being uncomfortable
-have more patience with myself and the people around me
-develop good habits
-survive this academic year

Thursday Aug 10, 2023💕

[Cas.]

My goal is to accept I have anxiety and stop fighting it and live alongside it.

[briannacastro]

My goals:
To stop avoiding
Stop letting my anxiety control my life
To start living again

[ingridsara]

I have been depressed for a long time, but after taking shrooms few months ago, l feel much happier and highly motivated and my ADHD gone, lost a ton of anxiousness and had a few epiphanies about how I should live my life. I decided to buy an ounce for backup, but haven’t yet felt the need to take any more since then.

[martuli]

I really need this. I can’t take this anymore. It’s anxiety all day every day. I can’t sleep properly, i can’t eat properly. I don’t want to imagine a life where i continue to feel like this. I can’t do it.

[lmc]

Goals:
1)Leave home to do errands w/o running home partway through because of my anxiety
2)Be ok with losing people instead of trying to control the result
3)Figure out how to bring good people into my life instead of being a hermit

[destinyschild]

I knew from 14 that I had anxiety but I had no idea years later (now 25) how much it would hinder my life. I thought I was just a shy, weak or depressed person but I realize that's not the case. I'm extremely capable of doing things it's just this underlying fear that holds me back. There are so many things that I've put on the back burner because of anxiety such as dating, travelling, freelancing, etc. At least I have more clarity now on why I behave the way I do and find solutions to help me with social situations.

[carriem]

My goal is to get my energy back. The anxiety wears me out.

[r.w.]

Change my relationship to anxiety to one of compassion and acceptance rather than submission and resentment because I know it’s just a part of me that is trying to protect me and was once actually existentially necessary for my younger self’s survival when it first came along. And though I hear it and appreciate what is once did for me, I want it and am determined to make it understand that I’m an adult now, and I’m ready to take responsibility and to be in charge of my life from now on. I choose reasonable risk and unavoidable uncertainty, the limitless possibility of life and the dizziness of freedom over paralyzing fear and a false sense of safety and control.

[tazyeensaquib]

I am highly grateful to you Ma'am for such helping videos. You have made my life a lot better. I suffered from chronic stress and eventually with acute depression. Had to be on medication for almost 1 year. And I used to fear a lot that I will relapse again in that depression which makes one's life no less than a hell. But your emotion processing 30 videos on you tube and especially acceptance theory have completely changed my life. I am living now a happy and meaningful life and pursuing my dream with positivity. I will be thankful to you my entire life and I am in just early 20s. You are no less than angel for me. Lots of love and respect from India❤❤.

[mochimo]

My goals:
To learn about anxiety
To stop anxiety taking control of my life
To stop overthinking
To start making decision based on what i want, not based on what i feel less anxious about
To be a calm and assertive person

[steceymorgan]

Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.

[muskanbakes]

My goals:
•Set my boundaries firm for good
•Be consistent with things related to my career and make progress
•be more present and less disassociated

[jillwklausen]

I am actually trying to get myself out in the world MORE, meet new people, try new things, etc., to make my anxiety go away. It's just hard, because there aren't enough things to keep me busy as much as I'd like. But I AM trying. In fact, I just got home from going on a walk at the beach with a woman I met on Monday when I went to the civic center to volunteer making blankets for shelter dogs. I feel WAY less anxious than I have all morning. But I know the anxiety will come back as soon as I have little or nothing to do with my time. I wish everyone here well! ❤

[gingercat]

1)Be confident to leave the house to do things by myself, including speaking Spanish
2)Get a full-time job & feel like an adult & buy things I want & feel more secure in my housing, relationship
3)Do fun things simply because I want to do them
4)Find people I vibe with and make them my friends
5)Stop being triggered by shame and feelings of unworthiness, unshakeable faith in myself
6)Finish projects solo
7)Feel more alive and joyful

[fairygodmother]

I've worked as an interpretor for 4 days with different groups. I have an immense fear of public speaking and I've been avoiding it for years but decided to face my fear (because I need the money to survive honestly). The sad thing is, after doing that my anxiety is still here, and although I am somehow proud of myself for finally facing my fear I don't feel better about myself, I feel slightly dissapointed, because whenever I go to sleep I think of all the times when I was awkward and made mistakes in front of groups of people and I don't ever want to go through that again. If you read this please send your good vibes or pray for me if you are a believer so that I can find a job that doesn't require public speaking🙏

[dwaynedelario]

My goal is to stop constantly fearing the fear. Hypersensitization to every little thing is robbing me of my joy and presence. I want to feel again but every time I try, I end up a shaky mess.

[rhbmn]

when she mentioned how we convince ourselves that we're worthless as a way to cope with anxiety that really hit very close to home for me. thinking about what i have cut out of my life, there's a lot of things, family, relationships, friendships. i never ask people to meet up with me or ask to make plans with them because of my fear of rejection. i am terrified of public speaking or even speaking in front of a small group of friends. i get anxious about sharing my work online or even talking about things i like for fear of being mocked or being made fun of. i don't dress the way i want to so i don't attract attention. for my goals i want to counter all of these things. i want to be able to share things without feeling anxious or worry about what other people think of me. i want to be able to present myself the way i want to. i am always scared of speaking first and also scared of calling others on the phone and i wish to fix that. i hope i can one day be the person i have always wanted to be.

[benedictcumberbatch]

my goals:
Stop dissociating
Stop rushing through life and allow myself to be
Stop overthinking

[rose.florish]

Anxiety has ruined my life, after my friend group fell apart and the pandemic hit and I was neglected by my only parent, it stripped any social skills I had and confidence and made me sick and tired every day of my life, being young and not understanding I would continuously give into anxiety and I started self isolating till the outside world felt terrifying, i was in fight flight and freeze far more then I needed to be, now I'm trying to take my life back so I can be a successful adult and live a life that actually means something to me, that I'm able to make fantasies about but terrified to take action on. I was never taught these skills nor was I able to get help or have the proper funds to get therapy, so I'm here trying to teach myself how to live. I hope to make meaningful friendships, start a convo with a random person on my walk, and not worry about how I have to put on a show or look appealing to everyone around me cause that's simply unrealistic, it's caused me uncomfortable memory blocks and the lack of ability to focus, i want freedom!