The Anxiety Spiral
By: Chelsea
May 30, 2024

Are You In An Anxiety Spiral

 

Imagine something triggered your anxiety. You start to feel tense, maybe your heart starts racing a bit. Then…here comes the anxiety spiral with the overwhelming thoughts that just consumes your brain. Now what? How do you get out of the terrorizing trap your brain is putting you through?

When it comes to anxiety, it is so easy for our brains to start spiraling in the emotional flood that happens. You start catastrophizing and look at everything that will eventually go wrong. The spiral continues to take you further down the rabbit hole.

Here are a few little reminders to get yourself out of that anxiety spiral:

In situations, people will look at the best-case scenario and the worst-case scenario. Anxiety will more than likely take you to the worst-case scenario. However, does it ever really end up being the worst case? Normally, no it doesn’t. Give yourself a chance to find your middle.

When a trigger happens, people tend to listen to themselves more than talk to themselves. Meaning, people will listen to the lies that their brain is telling them and the false narrative that is being presented. Instead, try talking yourself through it. Self-soothe. Practice mindfulness.

One of the biggest battles with anxiety is the urgency that comes with it. We want the feeling to go away and to be calm. Remind yourself that this feeling is temporary. It will pass. This will alleviate the “doom and gloom” mindset that comes with anxiety. Practice your coping skills and give yourself grace.

Anxiety has a way of consuming you. When you are triggered, you are no longer thinking logically. It is now a war against your brain. Our brains can be our best friends or our worst enemies. If we allow it to be our worst enemy, you lose every time. The anxiety spiral does not need to last. Give yourself a chance to pull yourself out of the spiral so you can work through what you need to.