Changing How You See Yourself Can Reduce Your Anxiety

There is no magic way to cure your anxiety. Trust me, if there were it would have visited me by now.

No, the only way to reduce your anxiety is to do the work. The hard, lengthy work.

Oftentimes, anxiety gets worse before it gets better. If it does get worse for a time, this is normal because you are testing your anxiety. And so, if you push it a bit it will likely push back. But know that eventually it does get better!

However, there are a few changes you can make in how you view yourself that will reduce your anxiety.

When was the last time you labeled yourself as worthy, capable, loved, or worth forgiving?

Guess what: you are all of those things.

What about skilled, talented, invested, or excited?

The truth is that all humans are skilled and talented at something. We all have unique talents and gifts to share with the world.

What about this: do you think of your life as blessed or full? Blessed and full meaning rich in opportunity, in relationships, in faith, in whatever you want your life to be full of.

Chances are, if you have been experiencing anxiety lately, you may be looking at your life from a glass half empty perspective. And that is also normal and okay! Because anxiety hurts.

However, let’s flip that to a glass half full perspective. When you view yourself as all of these beautiful things, because you are, your anxiety tends to lessen.

Let’s dive into them a bit more!

Worthy, Capable, Loved, Or Worth Forgiving

These may seem like big words. Perhaps even scary words.

But they are true.

Having anxiety does not make you any less worthy than you have always been, although you may believe so because of your anxiety.

And despite experiencing anxiety, you are capable of achieving all of the goals and dreams that you have.

Much like your worth, anxiety is not a reason that you are not loved. You are loved, likely by many people.

Sometimes anxiety can lie to you and make you believe that you are not as loveable as someone without anxiety.

Additionally, anxiety is often experienced when we feel like we may not do well at something or fail at a task.

You are worth forgiving, even if you fail! We all fail. Failing makes us human. Experiencing anxiety makes us human.

Shifting our thinking from anxiety being the reasons that we are not worthy, are not capable, are not loved, and are not worth forgiving to the opposite will help us create distance between our worth and our anxiety.

And if we create distance, we tend to feel less anxious.

Remember: you are worthy, capable, loved, and worth forgiving! And you do not need anyone to tell you these things, you can tell them to yourself.

Skilled, Talented, Invested, Or Excited

Do you have anxiety related to not only your personal life but your professional life?

Does taking on a new project or saying yes to a promotion cause stress for you?

It does for me!

Typically we want to excel and do well at things. The fear of failure or not doing well can cause many of us to not pursue dreams and paths we would like to. Or, we may pursue them and simply be terrified the entire way.

To reduce anxiety related to this you again need to transition your thinking.

When you notice this anxiety, do you remind it that you are in fact quite skilled at what you do? Do you tell it that you are talented? Do you remember that you are invested and excited in your work?

If you do not, please start!

I have spent a lot of my life being so nervous about grades or applying for a job and it always turned out fine. And even if it did not turn out fine, I worked through it anyway.

We are resilient and strong humans.

When we tell ourselves that we are skilled and talented, we tend to eventually believe that we are and thus the fear of failure possibly hurts less. And if it does not hurt less, I challenge you to do the thing anyways!

Remember, you are worth of love and forgiving also.

Blessed And Full

Anxiety can be debilitating. It can start to take over your life and feel as though it is sucking all the good out of you.

These last few words are here to remind you that is not true.

When you view yourself and your life as blessed, it seems to feel a bit easier. This could or could not have a religious connotation to you. Only you can decide that.

What I simply mean by blessed is that you can identify the things that drive your life. You can be blessed because you have strong relationships; blessed because you have a wonderful hobby; blessed because you have great children; or blessed for whatever reason you decide.

The important piece of this is that you acknowledge that even when anxiety takes over, there are good things in your life that you are grateful for.

Write them out. Read them to yourself. Picture them.

This may help reduce your anxiety. Similarly, you can view yourself as living a full life.

When I am anxious, I remember that there are more things in my life than my anxiety. I remind myself of the different aspects of my life that make it full. The aspects that I live for on a daily basis. When I think of these different identifies or pieces of me, I care less about the anxiety and perhaps I even begin to plan an activity that I love.

You are blessed and your life is full, despite having anxiety.

Conclusion

Whatever the words are that you identify with most can help you transition how you view yourself.

I resonate most with knowing that I am loved, capable, and blessed. These are the words that really give my life meaning and fulfillment.

And when I feel fulfilled and that there is something wonderful to live for, I tend to think of my anxiety less. Eventually it may fade away for a bit. And when it comes back, I can remind it again how loved, capable, and blessed I am.

These are easy changes in how you view yourself that can help reduce your anxiety!