an-ex-ity ≠ Anxiety

Anxiety in its purest form is a fitly designed survival response. A keen mechanism and system that when loosed allows each of us to harness necessary internal strength to endure from one moment to the next. The anxiety we have come to recognize today is a different operation. anxiety 2019 is also powerful, but a bit too forgiving in how it recognizes danger. The 2020 version or an-ex-ity, as I like to call its metamorphosed self is an all-encompassing feeling and assumption that one is faced with a situation and lack the necessary resources to survive. Pure Anxiety rises as quickly as it subsides, restoring you to your normal self-dominion and operation. an-ex-ity is Ultron, taking the helm when released circumventing your capacity to identify when it’s needed. anxiety is the big "what-if" question that seems only to be followed by our individual worst fears. an-ex-ity is the cloak of possible truths that resonate and echo about your head in your voice, stocked with what seem to be limitless pieces of evidence in support of its cause. an-ex-ity is loud and forceful. It's suffocating and sure. It's irreverent whilst considerate - seemingly.

Wait just a second...pause with me. Take a second for a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Inhale. Exhale. Allow a quick respite for your thought train. Inhale. Exhale. 

Despite what it tells you an-ex-ity is not in control. Despite the automaticity it purports, it requires a jumpstart. an-ex-ity can only survive in your curt breaths and rapid heart beats. Its only solace is in your racing thoughts and negative appraisals. So again, with me, pause.

Take a second for a deep breath in through you nose and out through your mouth. Inhale. Exhale.

That’s step one in deactivating an-ex-iety’s response. It’s the first step that disallows your body from preparing to run or hide and the step that allows you to breathe life into the part of your brain that can remind you that in cases of having difficult conversations, asking for what you need in relationships, experiencing new transitions, changing your career, or giving voice to your emotions, you have all you need to survive. Challenging, yes. Impossible, no. It’s that deep breath that opens the door to restore pure Anxiety in its rightful place as the internal protector from life’s threats rather than life itself.

Ebonii Nelson, MS, LPC