Stress & Anxiety
If you’d like to spend less time and energy worrying about the future and overthinking the past, I’m here to help.
Understanding the Pain of Stress and Anxiety
The truth is: We need stress and anxiety. Think of it like this—we're happy to stress our muscles at the gym to gain strength. With anxiety, if nearly hit by a bicycle as we cross the road —we need or body to respond with fear and anxiety to initiate the fight/flight/freeze system—this is how stay safe!
But / And, as modern day humans we tend to spend an unhelpful amount of time worrying about the future and overanalyzing the past.
We also need to consider the future: we need to be pragmatic, for instance we keep food in the fridge for the week ahead. We need to be prepared: for instance, consider how you want to show up for the job interview next week. But there’s a line, isn’t there? When all you can think about what you’ll wear and you have extreme distress related to what you’ll say, feeling intense fear about how you’ll be perceived, catastrophizing all the ways the interview could go sideways… Then we’ve jumped the line. This level of worrying about the future likely intensifies life’s difficulties more than it prepares you for a successful interview.
Same goes with analyzing the past. It’s helpful to consider the feedback we’ve received and the outcomes of our efforts —this is how we learn and decide when to course-correct. But, if you’re losing sleep because you’re ruminating about what you said in a meeting and you imagine all the negative ways others might be judging you then, again, the line’s been crossed from curiosity with a motivation for learning to catastrophizing and/or overthinking. These habits of mind tend to be unhelpful (often harmful) ways of looking into the past.
How Therapy Can Help
In working together we’ll delve into the root causes of your distress. We will explore skills for tolerating the stres and finding ways to be with it while also working to reduce the discomfort in practical and sustainable ways.
Because my approach is grounded in existential-humanistic theory, it’s possible, even likely (if you’re interested) that we’ll explore the fundamental questions of existence: Who am I? What is my purpose? How can I live a more meaningful life? How do I consider choice and responsibility? What does it mean to be born and die alone while craving connection in between?
Proven Techniques for Sustainable Relief
I’m committed to bringing ideas backed by science and research along with over 20 years of clinical experience to help you find relief. Here’s a bit of what we might focus on:
- Mindful Awareness: Learn to observe your thoughts and feelings with equanimity. This creates more choice points and less behavior based solely on habit.
- Meaning and Purpose: Discover what truly matters to you, helping to create a sense of direction and purpose.
- Authenticity: Embrace your true self, letting go of societal pressures, unhelpful comparisons, and expectations that contribute to ruminating and overthinking.
- Acceptance: We struggle when we assume things should be different than they are. When we accept reality we create space in our thinking and emotional landscape. This spaciousness supports our motivation to make positive changes. Acceptance also means learning to make peace with not knowing.
- Connection: Build deeper, more meaningful relationships that provide support and understanding.
- Ease: With time, dedication, and practicing these new skills over and over creates new neuro pathways in your brain and become the new normal. This is the state of being we hope for in saying, “may you live with ease.”
Feel More Fully Alive and with More Ease
As you create new ways of meeting the stresses and anxieties of daily life you start to experience life more fully. There’s less suffering making room for joy, creativity, and spontaneity. You become more present in your work and in the relationships you cultivate with yourself and others.
Life will still bring difficulties, but you’ll be more equipped to manage the hardships with equanimity and ease.
Take the First Step Today
If you're ready to break free from the pitfalls of stress and anxiety and embrace a more fulfilling and joyful life, I can guide you on this transformative, life-changing journey.
Your path to a more vibrant and meaningful life begins here. It’s time feel more fully alive!
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