When we know that we will be entering into a trigger situation for our anxiety, or have higher levels of anxiety already, we have to Engage it.  The second point to anxiety recovery is to Engage.

Where does anxiety exist?

Is there any place outside of yourself where anxiety can be found?  Can you buy it anywhere?

Anxiety only exists in our minds.  It cannot be found anywhere outside of ourselves.

We have previously established that anxiety is part of our “self-defense mechanisms” – it’s essentially an alarm system which tries to prompt us into action to protect ourselves https://ed-nederland.com/.  It is the “on” switch for the fight or flight mechanism.  The fight or flight mechanism releases adrenaline into our system and prompts us to act in some way to protect ourselves in a dangerous situation.

Anxiety becomes a disorder when it assigns danger to a non-dangerous situation.  So your mind and body start the process of “self-defense” all for no reason.  Therefore anxiety is irrational – it is not based on reality.  Anxiety is rooted in “twisted fantasy”.

Typically people are directed by anxiety.  We react out of fear, and in an effort to control things.

Engaging puts us into a proactive stance.  By being proactive we can start to see the patterns and conditioning we have in terms of responding to the irrational thoughts that anxiety causes.  It is at this point that we can start to manage our thoughts and creating new conditioning that will result in anxiety recovery.

Anxiety causes us to feel helpless and hopeless.  We need to stand up to anxiety.  Recovery depends on empowerment.  The beginning of empowerment is being proactive.

Recovery is a process that requires effort.  We need to be proactive in creating recovery.  Only by engaging the process, engaging anxiety, and engaging reality will we be able to create recovery.