Are you tired and exhausted of anxiety?

How to get back your energy after the hit anxiety and stress!

Today we are going to cover a question which a member recently asked in the group, which is…

“Why is anxiety making me so tired all the time?”

In the world today, we live in such a high-pressured environment. A lot of people are suffering with an overwhelming feeling of anxiety, and it’s having such a draining effect on them. However, what we need to do is actually define down what is anxiety and how is it really affecting us?

What is anxiety and why is it making me so tired?

Before we even begin to get into this, we firstly need to observe that in physical tiredness or exhaustion there is a cause and there is an effect. There is a starting point, and there is an ending point. Anxiety itself is not what is causing the tiredness (or exhaustion in extreme cases. Anxiety is the starting point, and tiredness (or exhaustion) or is the ending point.

The cause and effect of anxiety and stress

First we need to do is define what both the cause and effect are! 

Anxiety…
Anxiety, as stated, is a starting point. Anxiety is a negative pre-projection of the future. This pre-projection is created in the imagination of the mind! 

An example of anxiety…
Imagine a person who has low self-esteem or low social confidence. With this they may also have a belief that they’re going to get rejected (because they see them selves as worth-less)

One day they attend a networking event. They realise that they don’t know anybody at the event. If they have a lot of memories from past experiences of when they were rejected or felt alone in a crowded room, this it what their mind will then start to use as a potential comparison.

Their mind may assume that the people in the networking event ‘today’ could be the same as all the other people who were rude or rejected them in the past. This could then cause an anxiety reaction (a negative pre-projection) of everybody rejecting them in the networking event today. 

Self reflection!
If you’ve ever been in a situation where you feel uncomfortable about something, and all of the memories that you don’t really want to be projected onto today all start being projected onto today. “I’m going to get fired. I’m not good enough. People are going to reject me. I’m going to fail.” That’s anxiety!

Now we have looked at what anxiety is…let’s look at stress.

Stress…
Stress is the after effect of adrenalin and stress hormones being released into the body and the body speeding up using energy at a faster rate.

An example of stress…
When the mind has assumed that there could be a threat (real or imagined) it triggers the body to release adrenalin into the blood stream.
It does this for one of two reasons, the fight or flight!

Fight is where a person would want to attack a threat. The purpose of doing this is to disarm the threat

Flight is where they would want to run away from the threat. The purpose of this is if they avoid the threat they are not in danger

However, the confusion lies in the fact that it’s not socially acceptable to walk into a networking event and start shouting at people (fight) and to some it may look a little odd to walk into an event and then suddenly run out the door. However, that is why some people do run out every now and again.

The fight or flight reaction triggers a powerful energy burst that can leave a person feeling exhausted after

So, the adrenaline is there, and it’s using up all the body’s energy at a faster rate. When the energy is used up, the body tried to slow itself down to recover and it is that which brings that tired feeling.

So to bring it back to point, anxiety itself does not make you tired. Anxiety itself does not drain your energy. It’s the body reacting to the imagined negative pre-projections of the future, thinking they are a threat today, and then the body goes into hyper-drive to try to stay safe.

So, if you ever get into a situation where your mind is projecting lots of things that could go wrong, and then you start to feel physically exhausted, be aware of your thoughts leading to a physical reaction. They are two separate things. If you can change the cause (anxiety), you can change the effect (stress).

How to stop anxiety in its tracks

Changing your thought patterns may seem challenging at first, but it is possible. The unfortunate truth though is that many people will give it a few goes and then give up, Then they may announce to others that “nothing works” and just be in a continual cycle of anxiety based stress.

For this to work you have to practice ALL THE TIME until it becomes a habit. You are in control of your results on this…the more effort you put in the quicker the habit will build!
Here is a step by step guide to get you started…

1. Recognise the trigger
This is where your internal cinema screen shows you a potential disaster. Sometimes this may happen so quick that you do not see it. So if you do not see it but get the pang of stress, ask yourself, what did I just think about that made me feel this way?

2. Take a breath
A slow steady deep breath is very important. Firstly it will allow your physical body to calm down by bringing more oxygen to your brain and it will also give you a moment to stop and think about what the trigger was.

3. See reality
Remember, your internal cinema screen is just helping you be prepared for future threats, it is not trying to hurt you, it is trying to keep you safe. It is like a child over thinking things and panicking. So it is your responsibility to ask yourself. Is my internal cinema screen correct? Is this potential disaster going to happen? Then ask yourself… What is the reality of this situation…and do I need to be so alert? Train your mind to see reality!

4. If it is a threat…look for a solution
In some situations your internal cinema screen could be right and it is warning you of a very real threat to you or your loved ones. So after following the above 3 steps then ask yourself…”This is a real danger, so what can I do about this to stay safe?”

Conclusion

Although staying present when an anxiety attack happens, it is the key to stopping the adrenalin pumping through your body and causing you stress. It is often easier said than done.