Navigating Change with Anxiety
Change will do you good...or so they say. I recently started a new job and that’s one of the biggest versions of change that you can go through, considering the amount of hours you spend at work each week. Work can have so many implications on your health - positive and negative, but changes and adjustments in a brand new territory can be scary, challenging, and trigger your anxiety with all the unknowns. Even J.Lo says she gets nervous the first day on a new movie and she’s basically running the world. So if it happens to J.Lo it’s legit.
Personally, I go against the grain on anxiety and change. I LOVE change. In fact, I thrive on it. For me, my anxiety is massively triggered by a lack of feeling in control. While change and the unknown can totally trigger feeling out of control, it’s also a sign of personal growth. Goal setting and personal growth actually makes me feel more in control as life moves around me. My goals help me stay focused on the positive and hold gratitude for everything that I am accomplishing, rather than obsessing about something I don’t have. When you look at change from this angle, it doesn’t seem so scary after all. You with me?
Even while looking at change through a positive lens (positively anxious, after all), anxiety clearly tries to intervene, as it always does.
So, it’s incredibly important to stay as present as possible while navigating new waters. As the anxious know, there are a lot of fear “what-ifs” and worst case scenarios that your brain will try and throw at you. When that happens to me, sometimes I ruminate in it (I’m human after all). But I try to stop those thoughts as quickly as possible. I take a deep breath and then start one of my favorite visuals: literally see the thought, put a mental bubble around it, and see it floating away to release it. You may have to do this all damn day, but eventually those fear thoughts will quiet down.
Not only can anxiety and change trigger fear thoughts, but it can also trigger hella self-doubt. “Can I do this?” “Did I make the right decision?” “Can I bring enough to the table?” All that good stuff. When those questions and self-doubt come into my head, that’s when I love using my trusty positive affirmations and mantras. I just flip that shit around and say “I got this!” “I am deserving of this opportunity.” “I’m crushing it.” This quickly rewires that negative self-talk.
Whatever change I am going through it’s important for me to remember that it’s on my path. Gabby Bernstein gives great insight on this, saying, “The practice of trusting that the Universe has your back no matter what is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It’s all about living in certainty. It’s about being in a place where regardless of what’s happening around you, you can trust.” She writes more on this here. I find that it's incredibly comforting to practice this when going through change.
Change will do you good, after all.