The Costs of Anxiety on Your Self-Care and What You Can Do

How is anxiety presenting itself to you in your own life? Are you working harder in your profession to avoid conflicts? Are you spending countless hours on your work to make sure that it is “perfect”? Some anxiety is good and definitely can serve us to work hard and show up for what we need to do. Too much of anything however is not a good thing and in turn can have negative consequences.

1.) Anxiety can be a bully

If you have anxiety, you may also experience negative self-talk. Anxiety may also be encouraging you to be harder on yourself as a way to “motivate” yourself to do more or be different. In the end, negative self-talk ends up making you feel worse about yourself. In turn, when you feel badly about yourself it’s harder to show up like we need to in areas of work or in our own personal lives. 

2.) Anxiety can lead to burn-out

Racing thoughts about “not achieving enough” or “not doing good enough” in different areas of our life can lead to symptoms of hopelessness and exhaustion. Burn-out happens when you start neglecting your own needs in order to fulfill the needs of something else. If you have ever heard the term “you cannot pour from an empty cup” this is exactly what happens in burn-out.

3.)  Anxiety can be a cause of insomnia

Racing thoughts, difficulties winding down to go to sleep, and difficulty staying asleep can defiantly impact how we care for ourselves. When we don’t get enough sleep (around 8 hours a night), that impacts how we show up the next day.

4.)  Anxiety can lead to avoidance

Have you ever missed out on something due to your own fears? Anxiety can hold us back from enjoying things in life. Anxiety can hold us back from trying out new things, meeting new people, and even finding new ways to take care of ourselves. Our nervous system is there to protect us but sometimes it is not helpful to us in certain situations.

If you can relate to what was described above, know that you are not alone. There are ways that you can manage your anxiety and not let your fears control you:

1.) Incorporate meditation into your daily practice:

You may have heard about meditation but don’t understand what it entails. Meditation can look different for multiple people. They now have different versions of meditation even including VR meditation. Meditation can look like closing your eyes for a few moments and taking deep breaths. Or it can be more guided by listening to a recording of someone guiding you through breathing exercises.

2.) Keep a journal and write how you feel:

Having a journal that you can express yourself in can give you an outlet to express your anxiety and stress. Having something that is on your mind be put to paper, can make the fear or the stress you are experiencing seem less intimating. You may also feel better after writing it down.

3.) Create small tangible goals to help conquer some of your fears:

Sometimes the best way that you can get over your fears are by exposing yourself to what is making you anxious. Obviously if what you are fearing could put you or others in danger do not attempt to expose yourself to that. But if your fear is maybe driving for example, practicing driving by going on short drives everyday would expose you more to driving and help with feeling differently about that fear.  

Another great way to process your fears and anxieties is through therapy work. Here at Inward Counseling we see individuals, couples, and families that live in the Charlotte NC and the surrounding areas. Counseling can help you get back on track and get you to find new ways to incorporate self-care.

Click here for more information on anxiety therapy.