Anxiety is a relative term. What some people feel anxious about, others cannot react to at all. In other words, you cannot measure anxiety based on an event or circumstance. What triggers anxiety in some may be insignificant in others. Anxiety comes in different levels. You can react strongly to something, while other things feel like a slight nervousness. But what then triggers anxiety at different levels, and why are they so different?
Everything depends on energy to live. Humans, animals and plants, everything needs energy to grow and to create and maintain life energy. The same energy plays out when someone feels anxiety.
For some, going on stage and feeling nervous can be a mild form of anxiety, but is triggered in certain circumstances. Perhaps this could be an indication that it is important to perform, or it is the number of listeners that triggers this nervousness. But you survive and maybe you have some techniques to control this nervousness. Others have anxiety attacks with difficulty breathing and great refusals just to open the front door to go out. There is no performance for an audience or someone to judge you, you just have to walk out your own front door. What triggers all this?
All forms of anxiety from nervousness to deeper anxiety are energies that are in flux. As long as we allow these energies to prevail, the energies will live on and grow. You may experience a nervousness and refuse to feel this again and allow it to escalate into deeper anxiety. Anxiety and the degree of anxiety is therefore how much energy you allow yourself to put into this feeling, and how much you protect yourself from feeling this feeling. If you are going to measure your anxiety, you can put this on a scale from 1 to 10, where would you place what you feel, and is it reasonable? Is it reasonable to have deep anxiety attacks just by opening the front door? What will happen when you open the door?
You have to ask yourself the question whether it is you who shut people out of your life, or you shut yourself out from people. Who are you protecting by isolating yourself from people and reality, and is your feelings real? Energies can play tricks on us. We think something is dangerous and place what we feel high on the anxiety scale.
Suppose you had to ford a deep ravine with the help of a rope. The anxiety level would shoot high on the scale, but the danger behind you is greater. What would you choose, forcing the gap with the rope or waiting for the worse behind you that could cost you your life. If you choose life, you cross the chasm and get safely to the other side. Not only have you saved yourself, but you have also moved past what you were anxious about, because what is behind you causes greater anxiety.
The point is that you can regulate your anxiety level in relation to each other and therefore force what is at the bottom of the anxiety scale. With such a method, you will constantly expand your own boundaries, and therefore opening your own front door will not be associated with a danger.
Write down what you are anxious about on a scale from 1 to 10. When you become anxious about something, where would you place this anxiety in relation to what you have on the scale. Mild nervousness is 1, while deep anxiety with difficulty breathing, refusal and other bodily reactions is 10. Work with the lower part of the scale. Analyze yourself. What are you really nervous about? Is it something that others do or is it something you do yourself that triggers the nervousness. If we go back to the example where you are on a stage, you are afraid that all the people will be disappointed in you, or you are afraid of disappointing yourself. By going into the fear and picking it apart, you can take control of it. You can push your own limits and exhale the energies that stand in your way. Remember that all emotions are energies in flux. Use the stair step principle to release the difficult energies, be honest with yourself, don't lull yourself into excuses, or blame others or experiences. Release all these emotions and know that they are energies that are blocking you from living life to the fullest. Don't let the energies control you, but take control of the energies. To begin with, you can imagine to yourself what you are anxious about, feel the feeling that arises. Maybe your hands sweat, your heart beats faster and your breathing quickens. Tell yourself, that you let go of this feelings, and thanks for the protection you have received, but you not longer need it. Breathe deeply in and out and feel that you are really letting go of the anxiety. Repeat this exercise until you can no longer feel the feeling of anxiety. When you now experience this in reality, you use the same technique. Take a step closer each time. Breathe deeply in and out and let your body relax. You will discover that the anxiety level is significantly less and perhaps completely gone. You are now in control of your own life. Keep it up!
Praise yourself for every step you take forward, no matter how small, because every step forward is a victory.