Finding Joy and Facing Anxiety

Many people just want their anxiety to go away. They just don’t want to feel it. They imagine that if they didn’t feel anxious, their lives would be so much better and so they set that as their goal. “My goal is to not feel so anxious”. But when your goal is to feel less of something, you essentially have to cut something out of your life, and the problem with that is that your world shrinks, it becomes more miserable, and then your anxiety actually grows.

The only way to make your anxiety go away completely is to avoid the things you care about in life. Just like those kids who decided to not audition, if your only goal is to “feel less” to feel less sad, to feel less stress, then you’ll end up shrinking your life away.

Instead, in this course I’m going to teach you how to get better at feeling. Yes, your anxiety will most likely decrease. But way more importantly, the goal of this course is to make your life awesome again. To fill your life with the things you care about- the people and experiences that you’ve cut out, the dreams and accomplishments that you’re afraid to try, to bring richness and joy back to your day instead of worry and fear.

The difference between anxiety and an anxiety disorder is not severity, it’s how your response impacts your functioning.

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Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe

If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services.

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