Therapy for Anxiety, Stress & Overwhelm
How are you really doing?
You show up to work, and everyone says, “You look cute today!” You go to your kids’ extracurricular activity, where the other moms say, “I wish I were as put together as you!”
You do it all so well... too well?
At the end of the night, are you kicking yourself for not doing “more”?
Anxiety is super helpful. It tells your body something isn’t right. Except right now, when you’re lying in bed, it isn’t helpful. There is no immediate threat. You’re not being chased by a bear, but your nervous system doesn’t recognize that.
You may experience...
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Constant overthinking
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Difficulty slowing down
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Trouble relaxing
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Perfectionism
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Fear of making mistakes
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Difficulty making decisions
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Irritability or feeling easily overwhelmed
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Difficulty saying no
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Feeling like you’re always “on”
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Constantly anticipating what could go wrong.
Anxiety is there for a reason. The goal is not to get rid of your anxiety and never make you feel stressed again; that’s not achievable.
Let’s look at your daily life and how you’re interacting with those around you.
Are you living within your values? What exactly is the root of the stress?
Figure out what we can fix easily and make other things a longer-term goal. Oftentimes, anxiety is made up of earlier memories, how we did or did not deal with something, and how we feel about the world and others. It makes us create our own stories with the evidence we have to back it up. And although the list says “fear” or “difficulty,” it’s so much more than that.
Fear of making mistakes sounds not so bad. The debilitating physical sensations of making a mistake are awful, and that’s what anxiety looks like.
Anxiety lives in the body. You are tight, tensed up, parts of you feel numb, you’re shaking, you feel sick to your stomach, you feel like someone is choking you... It has an energy that can make you feel like you’ve lost control of something that you can’t even put your finger on.
I say all of this to say that stress and anxiety are good. We want the fight-or-flight part of your brain (the amygdala) firing if a bear ever chased you.
Goals I work with:
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Reduce overthinking
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Ability to manage overwhelm
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Improve distress tolerance
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Identify values
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Ability to set boundaries
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Tolerate (some) uncertainty
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Reduce avoidance
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Improve decision-making
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Recognize unhelpful thought patterns
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Increase self-compassion
Anxiety is there for a reason. The goal is not to get rid of your anxiety and never make you feel stressed again; that’s not achievable.
We'll look at your daily life and how you’re interacting with those around you.
Are you living within your values? What exactly is the root of the stress?
There may be some things that are easily controlled by using coping skills, and other parts will be a longer-term goal. Oftentimes, anxiety is made up of earlier memories, how we did or did not deal with something, and how we feel about the world and others. It makes us create our own stories with the evidence we have to back it up.