📅 Thought for today:
‘Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.’
— Jodi Picoult
#thoughtfortoday #anxiety #worry #rockingchair #therapy
Like many therapists, anxiety is a frequent reason for our clients to visit us.
In fact, I have read that 60% of all psychotherapy and counselling sessions stem from anxiety.
Anxiety is a very broad definition of a wide range of fears and worries.
PTSD for instance is an anxiety condition.
In working with entrepreneurs and leaders, who operate in a world of uncertainty and volatility, anxiety about the future is almost inevitable.
So avoiding or ignoring anxiety is not realistic, it is what we do with it that matters.
Anxiety is an instinctive survival mechanism. It has developed to keep us safe. So trying to make it go away, is in one way, trying to make our lives less safe.
Interpreting anxiety as “bad”, labelling it as bad, being told it is bad by our parents, starts a process of meta-anxiety – worrying about worrying.
Although I used this quote, I don’t fully agree with Picoult. Anxiety serves a purpose and when we notice it we can choose what we do with it – even when we feel like we have no choice.
