Anxiety is powerful. When it pulls an alarm, the mind and body jolt into action.
What if the power of anxiety could be welded for good instead of panic? How would life be different?
It isn’t easy when a superhero is learning how to harness their power. The experience is often confusing, painful, and challenging. Learning how to harness anxiety is no different.
Although anxiety is a personal journey, many others have struggled with the same challenges.
Lisa is a mental health advocate and blogger who was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder over a decade ago. She has gone to therapy, spoken with experts, done the research, and worked through plenty of trial-and-error to find ways to thrive with these mental illnesses.
Here we explore how anxiety can be harnessed for good in both personal and professional life – plus resources for when anxiety becomes overwhelming.
How to Make Anxiety you Superpower
Anxiety is an intense and frantic energy that searches for meaning and calls for action. It often accompanies our most significant life moments – promotions, wedding days, births, and graduations.
There is a secret strength in anxiety – an emotion dancing on the fringe of fear and excitement. We first need to notice when anxiety arises and then shift our perspective.
“There are positives to being anxiety-ridden – it just takes a different mindset to see and embrace them.” Lisa, adventures & anxiety
The 3 anxiety-derived superpowers below can help you harness the big energy of anxiety in all aspects of your life.
Superpower 1 – Drive and Motivation for Success
Lisa explains, “A big part of my anxiety is the fear of failing, and that fear of failing has been the driving force of a lot of my successes.” Anxiety drove to achievements and motivation like straight A’s and landing a job of her dreams.
Without falling into overplanning or perfectionism, anxiety may help you feel more motivated and prepared when faced with challenges (1).
Superpower 2 – Insight and Compassion Towards Others
“I am so, so grateful to have found an all-new level of empathy and compassion, and it has been the driving force of adventures & anxiety,” exclaims Lisa.
Suffering from anxiety is often a hidden experience. Once Lisa began to verbalize her struggles with others, she realized many people close to her were struggling silently with their own issues.
“As I started to open up more about my mental health struggles, I found myself connecting on a deeper level with family, friends, and even colleagues who suffered from similar feelings.”
Lisa, Founder of adventures & anxiety
By personally experiencing suffering, it allows us to become more empathic, understanding, and compassionate to our fellow humans.
Superpower 3 – Catalyst for Self-Care and Wellness
Self-care, health, and wellness are essential areas of life to maintain when you struggle with anxiety. In both Lisa’s journey and my own, anxiety catapulted us into exploring different wellness practices and health management techniques to reduce our anxiety symptoms.
Many wellness techniques are beneficial to numerous parts of the body. I have seen countless friends and family embark on a similar journey, ultimately benefitting their overall health in the process.
Resources When You Feel Off Your Game
Every superhero has a weakness. So when you are feeling your kryptonite, step back, take a moment for yourself and turn to your resources.
Resources are tools that help manage anxiety when it becomes overwhelming.
Talk It Out
“When I feel anxious thoughts starting to take over, I lean in hard to my support system, or my therapist, and talk it out,”
Lisa, Founder of adventures & anxiety.
Attending regular therapy sessions helped Lisa learn about mental health. With education comes greater understanding and the ability for change. Expressing her feelings out loud also allowed her to get a different, less internalized perspective.
Psychotherapy is commonly called talk therapy. This is a regular interaction between a professional and an individual talking to overcome a mental disorder or emotional situation.
If you want to find a therapist but don’t know where to start, this article may be a good place!
Get Moving
“I used to work out to lose weight, but now I exercise with my mental health in mind. Breaking a sweat is therapeutic for me.”
Lisa, Founder of adventures & anxiety
Exercise is proven to reduce the sensitivity to stress and release feel-good chemicals in the brain.
When you are feeling overwhelmed, get your body moving. It not only allows you to release some of the pent up energy, but it also facilitates positive coping skills.
Some easy ways yo get moving are though taking a brisk walk outside, hitting the gym, or playing sports.
Be Mindful
“Mindfulness, for me, is taking a deep breath and checking in with myself in the present moment.”
Lisa, Founder of adventures & anxiety
Adding mindful pauses throughout the day or when difficult emotions arise can help you gain a clear perspective when things feel overwhelming.
A small space that allows room to recognize how an emotion feels in the body and how to best move forward at the moment.
This insight can help you learn more about yourself and how you fit in the world around you – increasing emotional stability, self-awareness, and overall wellbeing.
Mindfulness meditation can teach the basics of this technique – learn more about the mindfulness activities here.
Bonus Resources
Some of Lisa’s other favorite resources are.
- Books: Rising Strong by Brene Brown, Body Love by Kelly LeVeque, The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook
- Sites: mindbodygreen, Psychology Today
- Experts: Drew Ramsey, MD, Kelly LeVeque, Ellen Vora, MD
- Social: @lisaoliveratherapy, @morganharpernichols, @alex_elle, @drcassidy
- Apps: Insight Timer, Headspace
About Lisa @adventuresandanxiety
Since being diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder almost a decade ago, Lisa worked hard to take back control of her life. She’s explored therapy, spoken with experts, done the research, and worked through plenty of trial-and-error to find ways to thrive with these mental illnesses.
As she opened up about mental health, she connected deeply with others about their own struggles – eventually sharing her story publically through her blog, adventures & anxiety.
Aside from passionately discussing mental health, she is a daughter, sister, wife, friend, and proud dog mom – who loves sunflowers and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
You can learn more about Lisa (and plenty of tips to help with anxiety) on her blog as well as on Instagram and Facebook.
