Strategies when you have anxiety and low self-esteem
Here you can get a few tips on how you can handle your anxiety:
1. Analyze why you have anxiety.
2. If you don´t know why you have anxiety, register how you feel after you have performed different behaviors during the day; for example after you get up in the mrning, after breakfast, after meetings with different people etc.
3. When you have idenitifed what anxiety provoking thoughts you have; analyze the evidence for and against the thoughts.
4. Analyze if you can think in some alterntiva ways around the thoughts.
5. Visualize the worst case scenario and analyze how you can handle it.
6. Expose yourself to the anxiety as much as you can (don´t take too big steps, you will risk to fall and feel more like a failure).
7. Analyze the advantages you get with your anxiety in the short run and what you need to do to so that your anxiety diminishes in the long run. If you hesitate because you think that your anxiety won´t diminish, try to think that you can try behaviors you usually don´t try and if you don´t get satisfied with the outcome, you can always go back to your old pattern.
To be continued…
Cognitive Behavior Psychologist Monica Emanell
www.kbtemanell.se