Latest / Celeste The Therapist / EP 476 Understanding Anticipatory Anxiety: Causes, Symptoms, and Solutions

Transcript

EP 476 Understanding Anticipatory Anxiety: Causes, Symptoms, and Solutions · Celeste The Therapist

0:10
We'll talk about your
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Okay. Hi. Hi everyone. Uh, if you're
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watching me on the replay, uh, thank you so much for watching me. I appreciate
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you. Um, I just want to make sure I'm on my mic really
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quick. Uh, audio. I
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was not on my mic plugged in.
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Okay, there it is. Six
1:35
years. I've been podcasting for six years
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Okay. I started July 2nd, 2018, and I have been doing it literally every week during the pandemic. I
2:05
which is why I'm up to almost 500 episodes, because
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I never missed a week, never missed a beat. So I'm so
2:12
excited. It's been extremely successful, helpful for
2:15
so many people around the world, which is exciting, which
2:19
was my plan when I first started. So last
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week, we discussed managing the complexities in
2:26
relationships. Thank you so much. We
2:30
talked about that. And so that episode is up
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and is streaming live on all podcasting platforms
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and also on social media. Today, we're talking about
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anticipatory anxiety. And so I love
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teaching. And so, you know, I got a little, I got slides for
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you. So if you're listening to this on the audio and you want to check out the slides, you
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can just go to YouTube, Facebook, or yeah, YouTube or
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Facebook to find it. Just search Celesta Therapist
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and you will find it. So before we talk about anticipatory
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anxiety, I just kind of want to share
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when I wrote it what people, so I actually did a
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short, I should probably pull up that short. I did a short about
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anxiety and what it is. And so I'm
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going to pull it up and share my screen. And if you are
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not following me on TikTok too, you can follow me on TikTok.
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But I'm going to share, I'm going to share my
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screen, share screen, TikTok.
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Okay, here it is. All right, so let's share what
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I said. If
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you are feeling stuck in life, my platform is for you. Anticipatory
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anxiety is literally what it is. You are anticipating something in the
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future, which is why it's also called future tripping. Now this is when
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your mind becomes preoccupied and worried about future events. This
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can last for hours, weeks, months. Now what's happening is your mind
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starts to become preoccupied. with things in the future. What
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happens when you are so preoccupied with things in the future, you literally
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will miss out on the moments of life. Now, staying in this state can
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continue to allow you to have mental and physical symptoms in the name of
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you. Emotional up and downs, even sometimes numbness
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may be a symptom of anxiety, difficulty concentrating,
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and even some physical symptoms. A lot of times people with the physical
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symptoms tend to have some GI issues, nausea, back
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pain. For me, I experience back pain when I'm feeling overwhelmed
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and anxious. Let's talk about what you can work on doing about it.
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One, I would challenge you to start to reframe what anxiety looks
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like for you, where you ask yourself, what are you trying to
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tell me, body, as opposed to looking at it as this big
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dark cloud over you. When you do that, it has less power. Two,
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try to start practicing mindfulness. Three, pay attention to
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what you're putting in your body, how you are moving your body. Really start
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to take good care of yourself. My last tip is to think about
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taking action and try with the small things. If you've been avoiding some
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things, if you've been avoiding some phone calls, If you've been avoiding some
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of your goals, try to start with accomplishing the little things
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because what's going to happen is you're going to allow your mind to gain
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confidence about your ability to make things happen. When
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you aren't doing those things, the anxiety tends to win
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because all you're doing is telling it that, you know what, you're
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right, this is too hard or this isn't going to work, right? So start
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to take action and have a lot of grace with yourself as you're
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trying this out. All
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right. So that was the clip that
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I posted about anticipatory anxiety. So
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this is what some people are saying. I'm never present. I
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have to think about the future because if I don't, my life will fall apart. And
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I do want to address that comment as well. I started
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telling myself each morning, I'm here one more day. Let's be in the moment
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because I may be the last day because if
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I don't speak to myself. Someone else says, yes, I
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experienced this when I lost my father every single day until Father's Day
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that year. I was overwhelmed with anxiety. I'm so thankful that
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was then. So it sounds like they've worked on that. Someone
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said, this is me all day. Someone says, absolutely, avoiding uncomfortable things
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makes my back hurt. And so I'm
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never present. I have to think about the future because if I don't, my life will fall apart.
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A lot of people experience that, especially out of
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survival, feeling as if you have to always
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be kind of overly prepared for the future is
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unfortunately really common. So what is anticipatory anxiety?
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It develops out of an overactive imagination. or
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from conditioned responses to memories. So it's
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important to note that this is not a medical term, anticipatory anxiety.
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It is something that develops out of fear
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or distress about something in the
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future. It can be a symptom of an anxiety disorder, such as
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obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety, which
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is huge, and generalized anxiety. So
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think of it like if a movie was playing in your head in the loop. with
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those thoughts. That's what's happening. It's kind of like your mind is
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looping this fear over and over again and creating a
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lot of distress for you. So what are some of the
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symptoms that people find themselves experiencing when
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they are struggling with this? And physical
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symptoms, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling, stomach issues,
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muscle tension, chest pain, muscle spasms, and headaches. Some
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emotional stuff that you may experience is difficulty concentrating,
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irritability, which is big, restlessness, mood swings, emotional numbness,
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loss of interest in hobbies, and feelings of apprehension. Now,
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when I asked on my stories, asked people what
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kind of symptoms do they find themselves experiencing, a
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lot of people, one of the common ones was stomach issues,
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GI, whether it's nausea, diarrhea,
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feeling like you have bubble guts, you're about to get in trouble.
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Some people said sweaty, grinding your teeth. and
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head stuff, right? So there are so many different ways
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that people find themselves struggling with this
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anxiety, but also there's no one size fits all
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either. And I want to address why anxiety
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is common in the GI, in your stomach area, so
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that you can be aware. I think that the more that you
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are knowledgeable about mental health and what's going on
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in your body, the better equipped you are to deal with it.
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So I know that if I put my hand over the stove, and
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the fire's on, I'm not going to keep putting my hand over
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the stove because I don't want to get burnt. I know that
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literally for the stove. When it comes to mental health, I
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don't think we know what are the things we need to do because
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we're just trying to survive and feel better, not recognizing running
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from anxiety doesn't cure anxiety. Over-preparing, is it going
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to make it better? If
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you look at this, for people that
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are listening, I'll read it. Why does anxiety cause GI
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problems? So anxiety, and the stomach is
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looked at as like the second brain. I have to do another episode on
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that. A lot of gut health is so important. because
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of how much it creates so much more turmoil if
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you're not healthy in the gut area. So anxiety can cause gastro
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issues because the body releases hormones and neurotransmitters in
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response to stress. which can negatively impact
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digestion. So these chemicals can interfere
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with gut motility, the balance of bacteria in
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the gut and gut flora, the microorganisms that acid
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digestion. So the chemical imbalance that's happening
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due to this stress can lead to a number of issues like indigestion,
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stomach cramps, diarrhea, loss of appetite, unnatural hunger,
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nausea, irritable bowel syndrome, and peptic
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ulcers. So when it comes to understanding
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how stress plays a role in your life, because remember,
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we can create stress just by us thinking about a
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situation. The situation doesn't even have to happen, right? The
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same way like hunger, the hunger, you ever been so hungry and
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you heard bad news or something bad happened, all of a sudden you're not hungry. You
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know, those stress transmitters go
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into our stomach, right? And it really can create, a
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lot of harm, we can create a lot of harm in our gut just
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by thinking of a situation. So
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what are some of the causes and triggers, right? So when it comes to
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fearing about fear or fearing about the future, I want
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you to understand why this happens, because if
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you're not aware that the mind is malleable, we
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are able and capable of reframing and shifting the
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way we think. to create new avenues for ourselves. But
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if we don't know this, then we're not going to do it.
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It's not an overnight fix, but it's definitely possible. So
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here are some of the causes and triggers. So
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past experiences, so negative experiences such
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as harm, disappointment, or failure can cause the mind to
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fear a repeat and overemphasize potential risk in
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the future. I'm going to address that really quick. So the
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mind only has access to what has been given. And
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so if there's been past trauma, disappointment,
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failures, any kind of issues that come up, and you're
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facing a similar situation, what's going to
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happen is that your mind will pull back from the old
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information, push it up to the forefront, and
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then you're eliciting all of those stress hormones all over again. So Past
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experiences is huge. Fear of the unknown. Humans
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find comfort in predictability, and uncertain outcomes
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can cause feelings of vulnerability and stress. Another
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one is cognitive distortions. So your thinking patterns like
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fortune telling, mind reading, what it is, catastrophizing
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things, and polarized thinking
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can trigger anticipatory anxiety. We have
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such a creative mind, right? We are the only species that
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can work on predicting the future and creating things. At
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some point, you know, we have phones attached in our house and
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then someone created the phone where you walk. I
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forgot what it's called, but for people that don't know, we had landlines and
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then one had a cord, oh, cordless. Then we had the
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cordless phones, right? So I was like, oh, it would probably be better if we
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can like, walk around with our phone in the house, then somebody
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said, oh, it'd be better if we can bring our phones with us outside.
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And then cell phones were created, right? So we have these amazing minds
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where we can come up with amazing ideas that can
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create things that can make our life easier. On
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the flip side, it can also create a
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lot of harm if we're thinking about things in a negative way.
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So because our mind is so creative, unfortunately, if
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you're not mindful, you can create elaborate stories about
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things that may not even come into fruition. And
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then the next one is perfectionism. So
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you're setting unrealistic standards for yourself and
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beating yourself up when you can't meet them, which is hard. And
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some other factors are anticipatory anxiety can also be driven
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by anxiety, sensitivity, depressed mood. I feel like depression and
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anxiety are like cousins. Or beliefs about one inability to
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cope with new things or challenges. A lot of times people will
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tell themselves, well, I can't do that. I can't tell you how many times I hear
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the word I can't. It's kind of like if somebody was scratching on
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the board. That's what it feels like to me when I hear somebody say, I can't. And
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it's like, who told you that you can't? We tell ourselves
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these lies, and then we start to believe them, and we create so much turmoil. So
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that's anticipatory anxiety again, not a medical condition, symptoms,
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of anxiety disorders. Something like,
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let's say I said, I'm nervous about taking my test. That's
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pretty a normal thing to happen. When it becomes this debilitating
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thing, let's say I get so worked up that I
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start throwing up, that I say, you know what? I'm not going to take this test. When
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it starts to interfere with your life, that's when it becomes
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a problem. It's normal for someone to feel nervous about
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something that's new. And let's say this test I'm going
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to take is in three months from today. With anticipatory
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anxiety, it can last for hours, weeks, months. And
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do I want to be anxious like this over a test for
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three months? No. So what are some things I can do
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to work through it? I can study for the test. I can go to
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the testing site. You can use some skills
15:30
to help you so that you're not riddled with so much anxiety while
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you're waiting. Another common thing is when
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it comes to Sunday to
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Monday. So people that have jobs like
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Monday through Friday, they said that Monday morning
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was the highest rate of anxiety that people would experience on
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Monday mornings. And the reason why that happens is
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because Sunday night, and I've talked to people
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who have nine to five jobs, and maybe they don't really like their
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jobs. Sunday, they don't even get to enjoy Sunday
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because they get themselves so worked up. that
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they can't sleep because all they're thinking about is everything they have to do. So they
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don't even get to enjoy their Sunday. And then Monday happens,
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and then they're so wound up in stress. You've created this way for your
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mind to be wound up in stress because of the way you're framing it. One
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way you can work on that is if Sunday comes,
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it's like, OK, I have all these emails. I have all these things to
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do. And then you tell yourself, yes, this is true, but
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I'm going to do it tomorrow. I'm going to enjoy today. You have
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to be an active participant in your thoughts if you want the
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way that you've been thinking and feeling to change. It's not going to happen by
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accident. It's going to be something that's going to happen intentionally.
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So how does anxiety affect your
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daily activities. So an anxiety disorder may lead
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to social isolation, clinical depression, and
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can impair a person's ability to work, study, and do routine activities. It
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may also hurt relationship with friends, families, and colleagues.
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And a lot of the relationship stuff are affected because
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you find yourself creating these scenarios about people in
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your head And I know this is a fact, because
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I've done it. I've talked to people who have created these
17:22
scenarios. And the moment I start challenging them, it literally
17:25
falls apart. The scenarios aren't even something that
17:29
can hold weight. There's no factual thing behind the
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scenarios. And the simple thing I'll ask is, oh, what
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makes you say that? Who told you that? When I start questioning people
17:39
in that way, it forces them to think. And
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they're like, actually, no, they didn't say that. And then they'll actually
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start to realize there's other factors as to why they didn't call
17:49
back or why they couldn't go or whatever the case may be. But we
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create active imagination about things
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that are not true. If you're somebody that have struggled with,
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abandonment issues, right? And you're, you
18:05
have a friend and your friend may be going through something. And
18:09
you may know the friend is going through something. But for some
18:12
reason, you make it about you that the reason why they're not calling back, and
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you create the scenarios like, oh, they don't like me, or they think that whatever it
18:19
is you're creating, instead of challenging that thought and
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says, who said that? Where is this coming from? Some of this stuff is
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coming from real stuff that may have happened in the past, right? Please
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save this. Yes, this live is gonna be saved. It's
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stuff that's coming from the past. And so if you're
18:38
not mindful of the things that are coming up from the past and
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it's dictating the way you're seeing things, you're gonna find yourself
18:45
overworking and having a hard time sustaining relationships.
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And it's not just romantic relationships. I'm
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talking about family, friends, your work people
18:56
that you work with, your co-workers. So what
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are some effective strategies for managing anxiety? Because
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Anxiety is one of those things you can't see. And unfortunately, so
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many people are struggling with this and
19:15
don't know what to do. And unfortunately, people are finding ways to
19:18
self-medicate that is creating more harm. More
19:22
drinking you do creates more harm. The more eating you do, it
19:25
creates more physical harm. The more isolation you
19:29
do, it's creating negative thoughts
19:32
because the depression and anxiety
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it thrives in isolation, where
19:40
you're not in community. And so I believe that
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if we are equipped to understand, if I put my hand over
19:47
the fire, I'm going to burn, the same way we are with mental health, we're
19:50
not going to find ourselves feeling like we're burning and falling apart all
19:54
the time. So some effective ways to manage it.
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So the top ones, it says relaxation techniques,
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sleep, exercise, self-care, grounding, and support system.
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Those are huge. So huge to think about these
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things when it comes to managing your
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anxiety. And when I say self-care, that sleep
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and exercise goes in that category. When you're taking
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care of yourself, when your foundation is good, it just makes
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things so much better. Part of your foundation may
20:28
be taking vitamins. Part of your foundation may be
20:31
going to bed on time. Part of your foundation may
20:34
be waking up at a decent hour so you're not rushing it to work. So
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when I talk about self-care, I'm not talking about all these glamorous things
20:42
where you have to pay for things because Unfortunately, I think
20:45
that when it comes to taking care of ourselves, if there's a financial barrier,
20:49
I think we get stuck in that. And we don't start to go
20:53
back to the drawing board and look at, OK, I may not be able
20:56
to afford this, or I may not be able to do this, but what can I do?
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Try to work on conditioning your mind to not to even acknowledge the
21:03
barrier. I think it's important. But also look at what can you
21:06
do despite what you don't have. Remember, we live in a nation
21:10
that sells us a lot of things. And so you start
21:13
to believe that those things are holding you back from getting to where you need
21:17
to be. When a lot of it, it really starts in our mind. So
21:22
affirmations are important. So try repeating affirmations like,
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I am capable of handling anything that comes my way, or
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I've done this before and I can do it again. I've
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done this before, and I can do it again. It's something I'm constantly reminding people
21:37
of when they're faced with the situation. And it may not
21:40
be the same situation, but there's so much similarities in it. And I'll say,
21:43
well, actually, you just did this blah, blah, blah. And they'll be like, oh,
21:46
yeah, you know what? You're right, right? The more you're intentional about
21:51
putting that practice into play, it's like blinking
21:54
your eyes. Literally, for me, it's like blinking my
21:57
eyes, because I do get that little thing in my stomach where it's like,
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oh, can you really do this? And I'm like, yeah, actually, I literally answer
22:04
it. I answer the question. And then my mind's like,
22:08
all right, cool. That's what we're doing. But if you're not answering the
22:11
question, then your mind's not going to be able to do that. It's not going to be
22:14
able to say that. I think people
22:18
do see it, the awkwardness. You think people see what awkwardness?
22:23
So affirmations is important. Recognizing anxiety
22:28
is important. So anxiety and excitement can
22:31
sometimes feel similar. So try to view your
22:35
nervousness as excitement. Because the
22:39
same way the fear is in your stomach, the joy
22:43
and that joy stuff goes in your stomach too. So those similar
22:48
hormones are being activated and it's
22:51
creating this in you. So just know that sometimes if
22:55
you're going to speak or you've got something exciting that you've, you
22:58
know, sometimes you're like, dang, I've been planning for this forever and I've been excited and now
23:01
I don't feel excited about it. Because you
23:05
got to tell your mind, like, yeah, it may feel like anxiety or fear. But
23:08
actually, this is excitement, because unfortunately, it's in the same area. So
23:12
that's why I can tend to feel that way. And the last
23:15
one is problem solving. So focus on what's going
23:19
well in your life and choose problem solving over
23:23
excessive worrying. What does that mean? Choose
23:26
problem solving over excessive worry. I say fear and
23:29
faith. Same thing, right? Both are known. And
23:33
so if you choose to stay in a fearful state,
23:37
and I say choose because if you allow your thoughts to just go rampant
23:40
and ask all these questions and you're not answering it, you're making a choice
23:44
not to answer that question and you're choosing fear over
23:47
faith. When you start working on problem solving, let
23:51
me just think of an example. So let's just say I
23:55
have to speak and I'm fearful of having
23:59
to speak in front of a large crowd. And
24:02
I can choose to be like, oh my gosh, can you really do this? And
24:06
I can tell myself, yeah. But also when it comes to problem
24:10
solving, what can I do to make myself less
24:13
fearful? I can work on preparing for the speaking engagement.
24:18
I can come prepared for it so that I'm not as anxious. A
24:22
lot of times we're not choosing problem solving. Let's
24:25
say there's a social event, because I know a lot of people lately has
24:29
been struggling with social anxiety and social stuff.
24:33
And I'm sure the pandemic kind of speeded that up. You spent so
24:36
much time being in the house that being back
24:40
out started to feel awkward, and that was
24:44
never debunked, so it became like the norm. And so let's
24:47
say a social event someone wants me to go to, and
24:51
I'm nervous. What are people going to think? Are they going to see my anxiety? And
24:54
so I start looping this idea, what if
24:57
nobody likes me? I'm not going to tell myself, oh, everybody's going
25:01
to like you. I'm going to be like, you know what? There's a possibility that somebody may
25:04
not like you. But what does that have to do with me? I literally will
25:08
question myself that way, right? Whatever that is
25:11
that you're fearing, you've got to start naming it. When you name it, it doesn't have
25:14
the same power. You give it power when you're not
25:18
naming it. You give it power when you're not challenging the
25:21
thought. So it has no other choice but to feel real, especially
25:25
if it's other things in the past that it's able to attach to.
25:30
Your past history, unfortunately, comes to the forefront
25:33
when there's a similar situation at bay. And
25:37
the worst thing you can do is to continue not
25:41
going to that social event. The worst thing you could do is continue not
25:44
going for that goal out of fear. because you're feeding the fear
25:47
when you do that. You're letting your fear know that it's real and
25:51
it's OK. It's like feeding a hungry tiger, right?
25:55
Let's say the hungry tiger is the anxiety, and I
25:59
want to get rid of this tiger. But how am I
26:02
going to get rid of this tiger if I continue to feed it? I need the tiger to
26:06
go somewhere else. And so when you don't show up to that event,
26:10
you're feeding the tiger. So one
26:13
of the things you can do, because action is such a huge step, when
26:17
it comes to anxiety, taking small steps
26:20
is one of the best things you can do. And I understand that
26:24
that is very challenging. Let me
26:28
try to use an example. So let's say that you've wanted
26:31
to start a new job, somewhere
26:37
and you haven't even looked online to see
26:41
what's out there, right? Because you're so nervous about
26:45
it, the first step you can do is go online, looking up that job,
26:48
looking up what the requirements are. It may elicit some things in
26:52
your stomach. It may cause you to feel a little bit anxious, overwhelmed,
26:56
right? That may happen. But then you have to tell yourself,
27:00
it's okay, I'm safe. The biggest thing that we're not doing is
27:03
we're not asking ourselves what's going on when these emotions are
27:07
coming up. And it's not your fault you're not asking yourself these
27:10
questions. You were never taught. And remember, as children, and
27:14
this is not no blame to parents, But as children,
27:18
when something was wrong, for some households, not
27:22
all households, if you were sad, if you got
27:25
in trouble, what are you upset for? I don't understand,
27:28
what's the issue? Nothing's wrong. Aren't you fed? Aren't you
27:32
clothed? Don't you got all these things? So you
27:36
grow up in a system where from early on,
27:39
any kind of emotion that would come up, would be looked
27:43
frowned upon, right? It would be like, well, and so how could,
27:47
if you've never learned how to challenge those emotions or understand what's going
27:50
on, because you've kind of been gaslit from saying like,
27:54
you shouldn't be feeling that way. And so now you're an adult, you're feeling
27:57
that way, you're feeling guilty for feeling that way, because it's like, well, why am I feeling this
28:00
way? And so nothing happens, right? Everything just
28:04
stays the same and you stay in this loop. of having all
28:07
of these emotions. And so the best thing you can do is
28:11
acknowledge what you're feeling, regardless of what
28:15
it looks like. And you grab yourself a feelings chart, something that looks just
28:18
like this. For people that are on the audio, I pulled up
28:21
a feelings wheel. If you Google feelings wheel, you'll find one. You
28:24
grab a feelings wheel, and you start
28:28
to ask yourself, OK, what am I feeling? That's
28:31
literally the first step to working through these emotions that
28:35
are hard. What am I feeling? And then ask yourself, like, why am
28:38
I feeling it? I don't do rocket science when I work with
28:41
people. I'm literally asking questions. Best thing you could
28:44
do is ask yourself questions like, what am I feeling? Okay, why am I feeling
28:48
it? You may not be able to answer that in the moment. Another
28:52
way to look at what's happening with you is pay attention to how your body's
28:55
responding to things. You know, I talked about, we
28:59
talked about these symptoms, the physical and emotional symptoms that
29:02
come up. And people have even named a lot of
29:05
these symptoms. And a lot of these symptoms that people name,
29:09
you go to the doctor, you get medically cleared, or you go to the doctor, they
29:13
may prescribe you medicine. Sometimes they just prescribe stuff because
29:16
they realize it makes people feel good. Because in
29:20
this country, we make things seem like it's a quick fix. So
29:24
here, just take this antibiotic. We don't know
29:27
what's going on, right? Nobody's asking questions. There
29:32
are some great doctors that will ask questions, but a lot of them don't have time. They
29:35
don't have the, they're not making the connection. to
29:41
you showing up in the ER with chest pains and
29:45
getting clear to, is there anything happening in your life right
29:48
now? It could be anxiety. Sometimes it takes a few times if you're doing
29:52
that before they start to be like, all right, you might be struggling with
29:55
some anxiety. I want you to really start to think about
29:59
these physical things that are happening. And when they're happening, what's
30:02
going on in my life? I'm literally asking people these questions. when
30:06
things start happening, when the migraines start, when the stomach pain start, when
30:10
the sweat starts, right? And so because I'm asking them
30:13
these questions in sessions, now when they leave my session, they're
30:17
questioning themselves and they're starting to see a pattern of like,
30:21
oh, when I do this, when I meet with this person, my migraines start. Oh,
30:25
you know what? This person actually reminds me of my childhood because my
30:28
mom used to do X, Y, and Z, right? So a lot of
30:31
these things are so connected, and so many of us
30:35
don't understand that. And so instead of us challenging
30:38
what's taking place, we're allowing it to have free reign in
30:42
our lives and it's creating so much misery. So I
30:45
really hope this was helpful. If you're somebody that has
30:50
been struggling with anxiety, I put up that anticipatory anxiety
30:54
post and so many people felt so seen by it.
30:58
And that makes me happy that you're seen because now you know
31:01
you're not alone. A lot of people have been struggling with
31:04
of these things in silence because it's like, what do I say? Who do I tell
31:07
this? Like when anxiety is one of the hardest things you could do.
31:10
I remember this lady came into the ER and her anxiety
31:14
symptoms had developed over time because of something that happened at
31:18
a hospital. Like I seen the trajectory and I
31:21
remember the medical. So I would come in to do
31:24
the psyche vows and then after they were medically cleared.
31:28
And I remember the nurses were so annoyed with
31:32
it. The medical people, they don't really do mental health, so
31:37
they didn't have a lot of patients. And I just felt so bad
31:40
for this person because if that's happening with
31:44
nurses... I'm not saying all nurses are like this, but if that's happening where
31:49
these are medical professionals, imagine what's happening in their real life to
31:53
people that may not understand them. The way they may get gas lit or
31:56
the way they may be talked about because they're living with
31:59
something they can't see. And so they stop talking about it and they start eating or
32:02
they stop talking about it and start drinking or start shopping or
32:06
start hoarding. Right. There's so many different ways that
32:09
people are developing. these things because you're just
32:13
trying to get rid of the pain. And so you can't get
32:16
rid of the pain just through drinking in the moment. It does help, but
32:19
it creates so much more turmoil in your life, and it also prevents
32:23
you from experience and joy. And so the best
32:26
thing you can do is face it. The best thing you could do, if it's the text you
32:29
need to send, send the text. Because if
32:33
it's the email you need to open up, open up that email. Yes,
32:36
it's going to be hard, but you don't want to start to create a way
32:40
in a system where you're always avoiding things because
32:43
you think it's going to help. It doesn't help. I wanted
32:47
to address this comment that someone
32:51
wrote. I'm never present. I have to think about
32:54
the future, because if I don't, my life will fall apart. Planning for
32:57
the future is fine. But if you are
33:01
finding yourself always living in the future, always
33:05
worried about the next biggest thing, that's the
33:08
worst thing you can do because when you're doing that, you're not present. Being
33:13
present for me has changed my life. Was it hard initially to
33:16
work on being present? Absolutely. But I knew it was
33:19
the best thing for me to do because anxiety doesn't have space to
33:23
be in my life when I'm getting into the moment. Because in the moment, I'm
33:26
fine. In the past, maybe not. In the future, I don't know.
33:29
But what I do know is right now, I'm OK. And you literally have
33:33
to start answering your mind and telling your mind that you're OK. So
33:37
this is gonna stay up on all social
33:41
media platforms, and it will be on the audio podcast
33:46
next week. Each episode goes out on audio the next
33:50
week, but there is a new episode now on audio that we did last
33:53
week. If there's ever a topic you wanna hear, you
33:57
can go to my website, celestatherapist.com, and
34:01
you can, put in anonymously, like a
34:04
topic suggestion, and then we can add
34:08
it to the rotation. And until next time, beautiful