# Accepting anxiety



## roverred (Dec 23, 2007)

I'm trying to accept the anxiety and then letting it dissipate instead of resisting and hiding it which usually makes it worse. Somebody posted a youtube video on this a few months back, where when you have anxiety you state where you feel it, see it as a form of energy and talk to it. If anyone has it I would love it. Does anyone else know any techniques or CBT phrases on accepting the anxiety?


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## Kelly065 (Aug 25, 2009)

My problem is not excepting it but getting everyone else to except it.....


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## Traci (Jan 26, 2004)

Try these. 

http://www.selftherapy.org/listen/


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## djr86 (Jul 23, 2009)

Another form of accepting my anxiety that i have used is just telling people i have it. Sometimes, it's just easier to let people know than try to hide it, and perhaps they will better understand why i act the way i do sometimes. I am getting slowly better. I just try to set small goals to experience a series of success to gain more confidence.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

roverred said:


> I'm trying to accept the anxiety and then letting it dissipate instead of resisting and hiding it which usually makes it worse. Somebody posted a youtube video on this a few months back, where when you have anxiety you state where you feel it, see it as a form of energy and talk to it. If anyone has it I would love it. Does anyone else know any techniques or CBT phrases on accepting the anxiety?


Anxiety is a paradox - the more we fight it, the more it fights us. This is a pretty analogy .


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## britisharrow (Jun 18, 2009)

Let me know what you find on this please, the idea of acceptance, thanks for posting about it I've wondered about acceptance and its role in anxiety myself.


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## roverred (Dec 23, 2007)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will listen to those audio when I can I stop procrastinating. 

That's great to hear drj86. I don't think I have the courage tell people I have SA or it's the way I handle things. 

I think I might of explained the main point question poorly. I would to learn how to accept anxiety at the moment it strikes not the actual disorder or after it happens. It's very tough to self-talk when anxiety hits and quite instinctive to hide and panic. I'm assuming if
I can learn to accept it when it strikes, I can handle it better.

Britisharrow: After cbt, I've accepted having SA and when I get anxious I can stay positive still. Accepting SA, has really helped on my recovery and brought inner peace. I use to lash out a lot, but now I feel like a gentle person inside lol, especially to myself. The biggest thing I taught myself was that having SA is okay and feeling anxiety is okay. Just saying the line it's okay to be anxious was very calming. Also SA does not necessarily represent my true values. Rather, it is my traumatized subconscious being illogical by reacting to past experiences that hold no water today. I suppose I treated SA as separate entity and a villain to target the negativity on something besides myself. I think it was helpful in the beginning to do that. I now see it as apart of me and just another insecurity I would like to improve on. Another big thing was developing a positive mindset for dealing with mistakes. Teaching myself that it's okay to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes and nobody is perfect. Also that the best way to learn is to learn from our mistakes, as there is something to learn from each one. It took several months to ingrain this into my head. This was general, but basically the main concepts.
Is this the type of information you were looking for britisharrow?


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## SolaceChaser (Jun 8, 2009)

I accept myself, problems and all, because acceptance makes me stronger. I accept what is happening to me in my life and I choose to move forward.

After you keep going with it (especially affirming it to urself when you DONT feel like it), it will be more and more automatic, until you're like, "so what."

Also, using "why should" questions directly to yourself always helps immensely. Like "why SHOULD I need anyone's approval of anything I say or do." What really helps me is, "why should my own thoughts/feelings cause me emotional pain."

Your brain WILL respond and the anxiety will shrink bit by bit if you keep being PERSISTENCE. Persistence and practice

This might seem familiar to a few of you


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## roverred (Dec 23, 2007)

Yeah I've been working on approval. I find it very hard to budge. But I believe I am making progress. I always ask myself when I get concerned about people's reaction: "What Do I want" or "What do I think About that?".

In what situation do you use "why should my own thought cause me emotional pain?".


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## SolaceChaser (Jun 8, 2009)

roverred said:


> Yeah I've been working on approval. I find it very hard to budge. But I believe I am making progress. I always ask myself when I get concerned about people's reaction: "What Do I want" or "What do I think About that?".
> 
> In what situation do you use "why should my own thought cause me emotional pain?".


Hmmm... Thats koo, I'm gonna start asking myself what I want, too. Makes so much sense when you think about it lol.

Why should my own thoughts/feelings cause me emotional pain? I use this everytime I am out and about with people and feel like I am in a body cast.

*Of course, the why questions should be rational. If you ask yourself why you have social anxiety, it will continue persisting, or why can't I be like other people. Logical is key


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