Name: Why am I Anxious? A Quick Assessment
Uploaded: 2024-09-20T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 9 min 19 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Do you feel anxious, but you don't know why?

Basic passive voice

Anxiety is often caused by micro habits that we don't even notice, but they build up over time.

Today we're going to explore seven common reasons why someone might feel anxious without realizing the cause.

These are the things that I would explore with a client in the second session or thereabouts.

So if you want, you can print off the worksheet that I'm using and fill it out right now along with the video.

And as we go through the questions, if you find yourself answering more than four from any one category with a yes, then that's a sign to explore that category and to try the skills and free resources that I'll share in the worksheet.

Though I wish I could get to know each of you, I am NOT your therapist, and this is not a formal assessment.

It's just a chance to explore your anxiety.

When you lie down to sleep, does your mind race?

When something good might happen, do you imagine everything that might go wrong?

Do you overthink and overanalyze situations?

Do you feel uncomfortable if you don't keep your mind busy with social media, the news, or other activities?

If you answered yes to more than four of them, that might be a sign that worry is underlying your anxiety.

It's a mental behavior that we engage in.

When we worry, we bring to mind thoughts of danger, which trigger a stress response in our body.

Worry is one of the most common causes of general anxiety disorder.

But if you tell someone, like, stop worrying, that literally does not work.

In the download, I will give you links to four skills you can use.

Okay, but now let's explore six more categories that cause anxiety.

Do you frequently have an upset stomach or headaches?

Do you struggle to eat healthily or get enough sleep?

Do you get less than 30 minutes of physical movement each day?

Do you drink too much caffeine or eat too much sugar?

Okay, so stress is the physical part of anxiety.

It's the nervous system activation of the fight-or-flight response.

What's cool is that we can treat anxiety from both directions, the cognitive aspect and the physical aspect.

Taking care of our body with proper sleep, exercise, and nutrition can decrease anxiety more effectively than medication.

And good nutrition has been shown to decrease our risk of anxiety by 30 to 40 percent.

I teach these skills and the harder part, which is how to implement them in my course, Change Your Brain.

But I also have free videos that you can watch.

Do you rush from one activity to the next?

Do you feel like you can't take breaks, relax, or do self-care?

Do you feel disorganized, rushed, or constantly late?

Are you overly stressed about money, work, or other responsibilities?

So anxiety is essentially a fear response.

And when we have too many things going on at once, our body and our brain perceive this as a threat.

Multitasking, crowded calendars, and too many commitments trigger our ancient survival responses into thinking that we are going to starve or something.

So if we want to manage our anxiety, we have to create a sustainable approach to productivity.

Do you constantly avoid situations or problems?

Avoidance fuels the anxiety cycle, and I go into a lot of detail in my anxiety course.

But our brain is super good at creating these sneaky ways to avoid.

Do you distract yourself with TV, social media, drama, humor, or daydreaming?

Do you overindulge in pleasure-seeking like food, shopping, sex, or drugs?

Do you isolate yourself or withdraw from social situations?

Do you intellectualize instead of feeling your emotions?

Do you overwork or find ways to keep busy?

Are you an adrenaline junkie or do you seek excitement through impulsive behaviors?

Do you use coping skills like mindfulness, breathwork, relaxation, positive thinking, or oversleeping in order to avoid your feelings?

Now if you're confused about the last one, I have like 10 videos on it.

If you're using coping skills to try not to feel anxious, that's avoidance.

If you're using coping skills to help you get better at having feelings so that you can live a valued, purposeful life, that's healthy.

Is it trauma or unresolved emotional issues?

Do you have memories of the past that you try not to think about?

Are you jumpy or constantly scanning for threats?

Do you have a history of abuse or neglect, even if you think it's not that bad?

So that could include observing violence, substance abuse, incarceration, being emotionally abused or neglected, or just simply not getting your physical needs met.

Do you get emotionally triggered or suddenly overreact to people or situations without really knowing why?

Do you suppress emotions rather than addressing them?

Avoidance is one of the big markers for PTSD.

Are there specific people, situations, or places that you avoid because they remind you of past trauma?

Do you experience flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts related to past events?

First, it can physically change our brain and our nervous system to make us more sensitive to stress.

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Why am I Anxious? A Quick Assessment

anxiety

constantly

procrastinate

aspect