So many times I’ve worked with people who ask, “How do I make this anxiety go away?!” Other than taking out my magic wand, which doesn’t seem to work no matter how many times I swish and flick, the truth is that anxiety doesn’t go away. Yet, that’s not a life sentence of misery either. If anxiety is a part of your life, it always will be. But you won’t always experience it as a negative, especially depending on how significant it might be at any given moment.
Its significance varies by how much it affects your life. A good example of this is imagining your life as a car, the position anxiety has in the car can greatly vary the impact it has on your life. Let’s say anxiety is the driver. Then forget it, every choice or action you’re taking is out of anxiety because it’s in control. Well, then let’s say it’s still pretty big so it’s still in the front seat, but now it’s just a passenger. Your anxiety might be guiding you, but it doesn’t make the final decision. Now it’s small enough to be in the back seat. The noise from back there gets annoying, but it doesn’t ever determine your route. Then it’s small enough for a booster seat, a car seat, a rear facing car seat, and eventually it’s so small that it fits in your wallet or purse just as a mint or a piece of gum would. You always have the gum with you, but how much significance does that gum have in your life unless you just had some garlic and are on your way to a date or job interview?
If you’re struggling with keeping anxiety at least as a back seat driver then call Specialized Therapy Associates (STA), at (201) 488-6678, so that we can help strap it down in its car seat.
