The subtle thing that fuels anxiety - Avoidance - Break the Anxiety Cycle in 30 Days 4/30

This content is what YouTube was made for. ❤❤

For me, one of the biggest things that has stunted my mental health growth was actually being an information junky on mental health. That has been my avoidance tactic. I will learn new thing after new thing about how to handle anxiety but instead of using them I will move on to the next video on YouTube teaching me something yet again new to handle anxiety. Once I actually realize this it actually helped me to figure out how to slow down and realize that I actually already have the tools that I need to handle this. Great video

Anxiety and depression is rampant in our society largely because of how inequitable it has become. So many people are just overwhelmed with trying to afford housing, healthcare, and the rest. So much "mental illness" is rooted in this.

I don't even have to watch this video to know that one of the ways in which I'm avoiding anxiety is by watching this video

do you purposely release these at 2am bc you know people who have anxiety are usually up all night? 😅😂❤❤

This is amazing. During these last few months of school, I would constantly find myself dissociating during class. My anxiety manifested as nausea, as an emetophobe, I would start panicking. Due to constant panic attacks at school, I ended up switching to online classes; I spent almost half of my last year of high school in my room, since my friends had to go to school and wake up early, I would rarely go out and when I did go out on the weekends, I sometimes got panic attacks. Then summer came and my friends all left town and went on vacation so I spent at least 3 weeks alone in my room with nothing more than my phone and laptop; my anxiety had never been worse, I started stressing over everything, even sleep so when I tried to go to bed, as I was falling asleep, I would suddenly wake up with nausea and an overwhelming amount of fear. Two weeks later, I was stressing over a family vacation because all these thoughts invaded my head "What if I throw up? What if I faint? I mean, that has never happened before but it could.. I've felt so anxious that I feel nauseous and like i'm going to faint so it definitely could" One week later, we leave for the vacation and none of the things I was worried about happened, in fact, I had an amazing time and I met wonderful people. During the trip, I barely used my phone. I come back home and my anxiety is back. I just turned 18 in July and sometimes it feels like my life is already over before it even started because I can't go out without worrying about nothing, I missed over half of my last year of high school which used to be the place that I loved the most, I can't work, I can't make many friends because I'm scared.. Anxiety has ruined me. Now, I know this comment is really long but I just want to say how wonderful this channel is, I usually never comment on youtube videos but knowing that there's someone out there who understands what I'm going through and hearing it word by word exactly the way I've been experiencing it, makes me feel at ease and like there's still hope, like I don't have to live like this forever, like there's a solution to it and like i can actually get better and I do, I do want to get better and I hope everyone who has to deal with anxiety can get better. Peace.

I agree. Avoidance is the cause of so many of my problems. But I keep doing it. I get into trouble with people all the time bc of this. But the thing is, I can stop avoiding but I don't because I can't, I'm unwilling, I'm lazy, I feel dread whenever I think of it, I sit in front of the computer pleading with myself to do the work, I bang my head against the table top, pomodoro, breaking the task into small pcs, and ..... everything else. I'm torn between self-loathing and self-compassion.

Vigorous exercise is a GREAT way to stop fearing the anxiety. I joined athletic group sessions in the gym, and essentially it is the same andrenaline that you get from exercise as from anxiety, and when you do it again and again and it feels good and positive, next time you experience anxiety, your body is very familiar with that, and you feel like it's the same positive thing happening to your body. You might even feel brave rather than anxious. However, it is not helping the thinking part of the brain, nor does it help calm the fight-or-flght response. So you still need to solve the root problem. It's just that you wouldn't have anxiety of anxiety anymore

Honestly most of my anxiety comes from dealing with our very broken medical system. Insurance is a joke and they will happily destroy your life if you actually need them.

When she said perfectionism is a form of avoiding anxiety..... I had never heard that before and that spoke to me

Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.

I’m hugely struggling with anxiety atm and have to wait almost a year to see a therapist… These videos have been so helpful, if anything a reminder that I won’t always feel this way. Thank you 🙏

this adds a good explanation to why young people have so much anxiety. the younger generations are able to do so much more of this avoidance than older generations. and yes the world is safer than it was, but all danger shows up on our phones 24/7. you basically just clarified all my theories … and it’s going to get worse and worse as we do less physical tasks related to our survival

I’ve dealt with on and off panic and anxiety disorder ever since going through a bad earthquake in college. It triggered awful panic attacks and now 28 years later it’ll creep up on me every now and then after periods of really doing well! Your videos have been totally a game-changer for me. I prayed tonight that the Lord would help me get the victory then I found you. Thank you for taking the time, energy and care to go into such detail. I was in the middle of another really bad day and just watching this video and understanding the WHY behind the anxiety has brought calm (along with a few of the great techniques I have now learned). THANK YOU SO SO MUCH 😭😭

Some anxiety is based around real fears , we make bad decisions and suffer because of them. Anxiety can be caused by real threats that have to be dealt with, anxiety is a very unpleasant state. Nobody wants it, and it is necessary to reduce the amount felt.

It’s 2am and I’m stuck in alarm and I love these videos so so much. Thank you!

Thank you! You may be an "influencer", but you are one of the rare POSITIVE influencers.

I think why we become so avoidant is that we think we have to act a certain way speak in a certain manner to be there but in fact, we actually just need to put ourselves out there in that situation...

Can we also talk about how hormonal issues make you more prone to anxiety?

This is fascinating. When something negative happens to my kids, i get this urgent feeling to make sure they tak about it so it doeant become a monster in their mind. Also, if they get hurt to do that activity again immediately so they remember it not hurting them, too. Sounds similar to the method of getting back to safety