Chronic High-Functioning Anxiety
Living with chronic anxiety can be draining. Ask me how I know (ha!)
In medical school, when I was constantly studying and taking high pressure tests for months on end, I experienced a few full blown panic attacks with trouble catching my breath, racing heart, tunnel vision, lightheadedness.
So many times over the years, I have shared my anxious, spiraling thoughts with my spouse. I’m a verbal processor, and even though I would feel a little better after sharing, I would still feel tightness & tension in my neck and shoulders, and a persistent pit in my stomach as I went about my day.
That persistent, low level anxiety that was just always there. And because it was deeply uncomfortable to just sit with, I tried to just do the next thing, move ahead, and keep myself busy, so I could avoid having to actually feel the anxiety. I hoped it would go away on its own. And it did subside at times, but it always came back, like an annoying string that keeps unraveling in your sock or a tag in your shirt that keeps itching you.
Understanding anxiety on a deeper level involves recognizing that anxiety does not stem from your brain and your thoughts. It comes from your BODY.
And just like we are rarely aware of the majority of the tens of thousands of thoughts we have every day, we are usually even less aware of the signs our body tries to send us every day.
Most of us are incredibly disconnected from our bodies and all the sensations and messages they try to communicate to us.
In my most challenging times, I did not have or even know I needed the tools to reassure my body that it was safe. All of our emotions have sources, including anxiety. Even if those sources are buried deep within us, and we barely know they are there at all.
Once I understood that anxiety was more of a body-based than a mind-based issue, I started to shift my perspectives about it and how to “treat” it.
And I have learned so much in my journey — the cognitive learning comes much more easily to me. The embodied knowledge (practicing and knowing what my body is saying) is significantly more challenging to me. But as much as we try to separate the mind and the body in modern day Western medicine, they are inextricably linked. And so, I continue to take small steps, consistently and oh so imperfectly, to implement what I know in my mind into my body. To help myself feel into the safety, security, abundance, and connection with myself and others that I am longing for. And to know when I’ve drifted away into fear/scarcity or disconnection and to gently find my way back to my center, my wholeness, my safety.
If you struggle with chronic anxiety, stress, or overwhelm, and are a woman raising kids and working in the medical profession, I would love to help you navigate into the often terrifying world of understanding your emotions, increasing your self-awareness, self-trust and learning powerful tools to increase your real-time awareness of the state of your body & mind, so you can consciously choose what your next right thing is. This skill set applies to literally every bucket of your life (relationships/parenting/marriage/co-workers/patients/finances) —
So…. if you’re ready to dig in and do this inner work with me, and want to experience the profound transformations that are possible in your life, here’s what to do:
Send me a message at sarahannewittry@gmail.com.
Check out my podcast “Vibrant Humans” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Join my private FB community Vibrant Humans or Linked In private group “The Medical Moms Collective”
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