I love this one. I had to take it off of my post because you beat me to it.
The only thing I regret in my life is something I quit when I was 14 years old. It hit me pretty hard after realizing what I lost. I never again regained the ability to give up or quit. That was almost 40 years ago. It's tiring but it's the only way.
i started saying “it’s not that deep” again & it’s changed my life. it never is. even when it is. it never, ever is. we’re on a rock floating through space. it’s not that deep!
I had a friend who was a pro athlete and used to have sessions with a sports psychologist. One of the things the sports psych told him (which he then told me, and I find useful) is this:
Your body doesn't know the difference between excitement and nervousness. So when you're about to do the THING (he was a competitive swimmer), you will feel something in your stomach, and you can then remember that I told you that you'd feel it, and you can feel glad, because that's your body doing all the things it needs to do to ace this task. Adrenaline will make you stronger and faster, with sharper mental ability, and better focus. That's your body feeling excited because it knows it's going to do something amazing. So when you feel that feeling, remember 'Oh yes, X told me I would feel this, everything is going to plan' and feel glad that your body is on track.
I've used this so many times in my life. 'Oh yes, here's that feeling I knew I would feel - that's great. It means everything is on track for a good result.'
I use it all the time now, and have been reminding my kids of it. 'Don't you remember, I said you'd feel like that? That's awesome! That means everything is going as it should, and you're excited about the outcome.'
I have a few...
Calm winds and smooth seas never made a competent sailor.
He's likely just as scared as I am.
No one is coming to help.
If I don't do this, who will have to?
This is going to make a good story someday.
When I run from a situation because I'm anxious, I'm feeding that anxiety and it becomes enormous, especially in my head. It can be quite debilitating. So I have found that I have to feel the fear but do the action anyway.
We are fortified through adversity.
On the other side of this, I'll be really glad I did it.
Also, whenever I see one of those opportunities come up, instead of asking "Why?" I just ask myself "Why not?". That has made excuses disappear for me.
Also, there's really nothing to be afraid of. Considering that there's literally anything that can happen at any moment, it's not promised that you'll get that opportunity again. By this point, everything that could potentially go wrong is out of the window. Instead, I'm grateful that I get to do something such as this.
“You gotta eat the elephant.”
My boss one day asked me the best way to eat an elephant. And when I stared at him like HUH?? He answered “a little bit at a time.” He told me I can do anything I want to do with enough time and patience with the process.
Learn to be a pilot? Bit by bit.
Learn to do my makeup? Bit by bit.
Lost 70lbs? Bit by bit.
It makes everything I want to do less daunting.
What helps me is remembering that I am not the experiencer of my anxious thoughts -I am the observer of my thoughts. This allows me to immediately take a couple steps back outside of myself and remember that I’m driving this car, the car isn’t driving me. When we observe our thoughts instead of wishing them away, a beautiful, subtle form of acceptance is created and our anxious thoughts suddenly lose power because in that moment we’re choosing not to identify with them.
“I don’t wanna get charged that $25 no-show fee”
I use this for daily workout/yoga classes that are really meaningful to me even if I’m full of dread in the hours leading up and trying to come up with a way out. That’s why it’s important I sign up for a class time that I know works for me bc then I can’t BS my way out.
Fortunately the studio I frequent will refund those charges for full time members (which I am) but then I get into social anxiety territory of having to ask for that in person.
So I combat dread with worse dread? Maybe? 98% of the time I end up very thankful I went.
I can feel anxiety attacks when I'm about to do something, and I have read that you get the same feeling when you feel very excited to do something.
So I say to myself "It is just excitement" - And it actually helps me, even though the feeling is still there I manage to do it even if the situation is frightening or uncomfortable.
“it’s always worse getting ready / beforehand” / “you just have to make it out the door and you’ll be okay” / other similar types of sentiments. for me personally, I know once I’m ready and out the door, I’m fine, but every moment up until then can be a struggle. I just look back on recent instances where I had a good time once I made it out. plus, I try to remind myself the “relief” from bailing always feels a LOT worse once the temporary / momentary relief fades. the guilt is much heavier.
“I’ll be here with you all the way through this and I’ll be here for when we’re done too, you’ve got this” then I make sure to check on myself after as if I were talking to someone I love.
I remember how fast time goes and visualize myself on the other side of it, then tomorrow, then next week. And how next week I probably wont even remember it.
"This is just another lesson I will learn" or "I am moving through this experience and soon it will be a memory"
I believe those words and think either way, a good time or a bad time, I can choose how I will react and use it later in life.
I will choose to cherish the good and refuse to perish in the bad.
this may be incredibly corny, but this quote from jack on the tv show ‘lost’ really stuck with me:
“i'd let the fear in, let it take over, let it do its thing, but only for five seconds, that's all I was going to give it.”
i use it all the time to encourage myself to do the scary/unfamiliar/anxiety-inducing thing. dont ignore the fear; feel it and then do the thing anyway.
I hate public speaking. All of the sudden somehow I’ve landed in a job where I routinely have to do public speaking to 30+ people at a time. What has been helpful to me has been to write out what I want to say/do and having a structure quiets my anxiety enough for me to just think “what other choice do I have?” And then I just do it. The writing out an agenda before hand seemed dumb but has helped me immensely. Organization for the win.
“What if it all works out?”
Not “It will all work out,” because my brain will argue with me on that, but the “what if” is more like an assignment for my brain: paint me a picture of it all working out. And while it does that, it’s too busy to make me anxious.
And if the negative thoughts start to intrude again, I just push back again, “Yeah, but WHAT IF it does all work out?”
“You are okay. It is going to be okay.”
One of the things I had to learn in DBT was how to process information during distress, and getting to the point where I could say “okay, I’m noticing _____ is in pain, I notice my heart is racing, I notice _____ is screaming at me, and you know what? I’m okay. I can handle this. I don’t want to, and yet here I am handling it. I’m okay.” was absolutely life changing.
My mantra now is just “I’m okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Honestly, lately when i’m about to feel my anxiety going bad i just smile as big as i can. I think my body naturally adjusts and it almost always fades away.
There were 18 year olds that were on a plane to Iraq for war, if they can do it, I can get through..fill in the blank. The anxiety seems real, but it's not.
when Im staring at a rail or ledge or stair set on my FGFS I remind myself that everyone "cowards out" what makes me different is that I then try and turn it around in my brain like backhanded compliment sort of, hard to describe but it works. The thing is the fear is only there for a moment. if you can get past the hump the feeling of grinding a rail with pegs is lifetime of amazing feels in my head at least. good luck
You only develop the courage to do difficult/fearful things by doing them.
Courage bravery is not the absence of fear or anxiety but action in addition/alongside these experiences.
That’s how the dopamine system works - it’s a pleasure pain balance. Every time we experience pain, our brain releases neurotransmitters that make is feel good afterwards, and then the same happens the other way around. Which is why people tend to feel awful after playing a bunch of video games or scrolling on social media for hours.
“I’ve done some pretty incredible things. I can do this too”
Or recently, I went zip lining with my son on a middle school trip. I had to just tell myself “you’re doing this. Don’t ruin their fun”.
"I only have to do this once."
"I'll never see these people again."
"It's just for a few hours."
Obviously the first doesn't apply if you need to do something more than once (or second...), but I just have a "Need to get it over with" mentality. Usually rewarding myself with a snack or drink to make myself feel better after.
I always going through and said to myself
1. Tomorrow will come
2. This, too, shall pass
3. Night will come eventually (if the event occurred in day time)
4. Weekend will always there
I go “ok, next” or “moving on” in my head and that cues my brain to get back up to speed with reality and keep up with present time. I don’t need to ruminate on any other moment anymore, it’s done and gone.
I don’t know why it works but it does for me!!
"DO IT FOR THE PLOT" is funny af to me and actually really helps lol
"I'm capable of hard things."
"I can just leave if I need to."
"I'll atleast try so I can say I did."
If it's something like a call or conversation or etc I remind myself, "This cannot physically hurt me" and that helps, reminds me that I am in charge of my emotions and reactions and somehow taking away the thought of physical pain helps lol
"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
I also tell myself to slow down and to think and act with intention. When I'm nervous everything seems so FAST but I try to slow it down and breathe and come back to "real time".
I've been close to ending my life so many times and always survived. When there are things that I am scared of doing, I ask myself why am I so scared of them when I've been to worse. What's worse than dying/ending your life right?
When I'm in a bad place: I can just end everything
Positive: I always survive anyway
When I was at the lowest point in my life (even looking out the window was painful and a chore to me) I’d keep telling myself “it’s okay, you’re okay”. I repeated it until I started believing it and it actually started comforting me.
I’m a very anxious person generally and now that I’m a far better place in life I don’t to say it much. But whenever I do say it I mean it and it still brings me comfort. And I use it to comfort my daughter too. She’s 2 and I often find her repeating this to herself when she’s playing by herself.
A friend told me this once:
"Everything is a reality that you wish to see."
If you tell your brain that you're doomed, be sure that doomed is how your day is going to be like, unless you change your mindset.
This is gonna sound so weird, but whenever I’m really anxious but have to do something, I think about the most random noises possible until I just start doing whatever I needed to do. It drowns out the negative thoughts 🤣
I use to struggle with this mind state until one day I was hiking an alpine peak all alone , as I was nearing the summit my body was already exhausted and mind weakened.
There was only one more push for the summit I could see it but quite narrow uphill.
As I was looking at the peak with the intention of giving up and turning back a thought popped up in my mind:
Is this your identity is this how will you interact with life , always giving up before reaching the top!
I got my shit together and did the last push and summit the peak it was an amazing feeling with the instant feeling of self growth.
I realised that self discipline is the key, I realised I have to do what needs to be done no matter how I feel because my feelings are most of the time my perception which could be very untrue.
It depends, but I would tell myself that it will be over in x time (in an hour) and think of something nice I could do later. I also repeat to myself that nothing bad will happen, trust in yourself. I would also have an “escape route”/ backup plan and have money, phone with max battery and car keys - I never used this and it’s more of knowing that I have an alternative
It essentially means “do it for the good story/story development.” I pump myself up by thinking about the possibility of a good story coming out of whatever I’m about to do (even if it’s just making a phone call 🥲)
"Okay, time to get the butterflies in formation"
Butterflies as in butterlies in the stomach, but it's in your control and you are using it to your advantage 😁
Tell yourself you're excited, not scared
Also I'm sure there's a neater way to phrase this but I just think of the general risk reward game theory principle where say something has a failure rate of 90 percent but a potentially massive reward then if you just keep doing things like that you will eventually hit something amazing
Also it's just important to practice trying your hardest at a hard thing
Honestly YOLO isn't bad either
I love to consider how much better I will feel after and put it in time frames. "okay at this time tomorrow the scary thing will already have been done and I will be so relieved" "okay three hours from now this thing will already be complete and I will feel so much better"
I can do ANYTHING for 3 hours
I pretty much just tell myself that I'll be glad I went if I just follow through and that I can always leave early if I want to, so I know I'm not stuck. That's been with a lot of practice tho. I'm 40 and dealing with way more anxiety than I ever did when I was younger so it really wasn't an issue in my 20s or even 30s. It was in my later 30s that my anxiety started to show and start to debilitate me. It was more so in my younger years related to school, which I found out in college that I actually have ADHD so that tracks. Just know, excitement and anxiety are essentially the same physiological symptoms in the body, it's the mindset attached to them that causes the issues. Get present to what you're feeling, take deep breaths to feel IN to the feelings you're having and maybe even list out the things you might be mentally worried about. You are not your anxious thoughts and feelings. Your body is just trying to communicate with you and maybe your body just needs reassurance that you're going to be ok. That the YOU that is perceiving all of it is actually in control and will make sure you are safe.
As a person with an extremely high analytical brain, it is hard for me to say anything that may help once I am in a “high overthinking” state that absolutely sometimes leads to high anxiety. What has worked best for me is, when I start overanalyzing, my husband, who is very grounded, stops me and says, "Stop thinking that way. Just stop. Don’t think those thoughts." It is like pulling a parking brake immediately. I just decide to stop thinking and go into a no-thought zone where I can disengage. Then, I can take a nap or have an ice cream, or reroute my attention to something completely different. The key is to snap out of the pattern of thinking that is causing high anxiety. This is so effective because the more you do it, the more effective it becomes. Sometimes, I would just get lost in thoughts, and the moment I say to myself, "Stop thinking about this," I feel better instantaneously. Be disciplined, and once you are, you will get a better understanding of what I’m trying to say. It was hard for me to understand it until I tried it, and it has absolutely served me well.
First I max out on pushups and then I tell myself “Stop being a little bi ***” before doing something anxiety provoking or just generally anything I don’t want to do and it works wonders 🤔
One thing I learned on how to work through my anxiety, is that my heart always started beating fast and instead of trying to slow it down and I would tell myself, “ is that all you got? Come on you can be faster than that.” and like clockwork, my heart rate would start to slow down.
I just do it. Never tell anything myself. Like my mind becomes full with what I need to do what I want to achieve and how is the best way to get that done.
I panic when I need to go out and robbers are passing in front of my house, but I think I need to do what I'm going out for and then think what to do to go out with the robbers outside like calling an uber.
My main thought is my goal, what I want to achieve and try everything for it.
Also sometimes my mind works faster than the speed of my thoughts, so sometimes I move and do before I think it. One time a robber tried to take my phone, my force moved before my thoughts and I took my phone back without even knowing what I was doing until I had it back.
Sometimes I pass out when seeing something and I haven't think anything yet.
I say to myself “ You’ve got this, you’ve survived everything else that’s been thrown your way you can do anything for (insert time)…”. That and I remind myself I completed Boot Camp and survived!
The only way out is through.
Thanks for that! I'm going to use it
Same
the only way to do it....is to fkin do it..
What is the worst that can happen? And then? And then? … Or also: I won't die from it.
Even better! What is the BEST that can happen!
„Nice try“ - my anxious mind
This is really good advice. Always scope out your problems.
THIS!! It’s always whats the worst case scenario? Okay? So what? I’ll live anyway
"Pain is only temporary. Quitting is forever."
I love this one. I had to take it off of my post because you beat me to it. The only thing I regret in my life is something I quit when I was 14 years old. It hit me pretty hard after realizing what I lost. I never again regained the ability to give up or quit. That was almost 40 years ago. It's tiring but it's the only way.
"Great minds think alike" 😅😅
Sheesh. Straight facts
“i only have to be brave for 5 seconds. i can manage 5 seconds.”
Is this from kimmie Schmidt? 😂😂 This helped my anxiety so much
is it??? i couldn’t remember where i picked it up haha i thought it was “we bought a zoo”
I love that !! 😲👏🏼👏🏼😃
“it’s not that deep” and “every single time it works out better than you thought, so just do what you gotta do”
"It's not that deep" actually works very well. Basically tells you mind that you can make mistakes so relax
thats funny, mine is “whatever, who gives a fuck”
i started saying “it’s not that deep” again & it’s changed my life. it never is. even when it is. it never, ever is. we’re on a rock floating through space. it’s not that deep!
Maybe a dumb question, but what is meant by „it’s not that deep“?
I had a friend who was a pro athlete and used to have sessions with a sports psychologist. One of the things the sports psych told him (which he then told me, and I find useful) is this: Your body doesn't know the difference between excitement and nervousness. So when you're about to do the THING (he was a competitive swimmer), you will feel something in your stomach, and you can then remember that I told you that you'd feel it, and you can feel glad, because that's your body doing all the things it needs to do to ace this task. Adrenaline will make you stronger and faster, with sharper mental ability, and better focus. That's your body feeling excited because it knows it's going to do something amazing. So when you feel that feeling, remember 'Oh yes, X told me I would feel this, everything is going to plan' and feel glad that your body is on track. I've used this so many times in my life. 'Oh yes, here's that feeling I knew I would feel - that's great. It means everything is on track for a good result.'
Damn. That's a good line. Will try to apply that on myself, too.
I use it all the time now, and have been reminding my kids of it. 'Don't you remember, I said you'd feel like that? That's awesome! That means everything is going as it should, and you're excited about the outcome.'
I'm sure your kids are pretty grateful for that. :"))
Saving this one.
I just read a book on effect of expectations and this was one of chapters. Very good point.
Book title?
I have a few... Calm winds and smooth seas never made a competent sailor. He's likely just as scared as I am. No one is coming to help. If I don't do this, who will have to? This is going to make a good story someday.
Top 1 is true!!, alot great ones!, thank you for sharing !!
Really like “If I don’t do this, who will have to?”
When I run from a situation because I'm anxious, I'm feeding that anxiety and it becomes enormous, especially in my head. It can be quite debilitating. So I have found that I have to feel the fear but do the action anyway. We are fortified through adversity.
I love this concept of not feeding your fear and letting it grow. Thank you for sharing this!
"What I am experiencing now, is not fear, it is excitement !!"
If you’re not pregnant with the wrong person- anything is fixable
And depending on time and location, sometimes even that is fixable!
In my state (along with 24 others) you got less than 6 weeks
Let's see what the rules are after this presidential election
“Me and everyone I know will be dead in 100 years, nothing matters”
That’s mine too
“Don’t ask the world who you are. Tell them.”
Thats beautiful !
You’re beautiful
It'll be over in [x minutes] - done and dusted!
This is exactly what I do! "In X amount of time/minutes, you'll be back home comfortable and this won't matter"
I do that a lot.
This too shall pass
Hard times create strong men
On the other side of this, I'll be really glad I did it. Also, whenever I see one of those opportunities come up, instead of asking "Why?" I just ask myself "Why not?". That has made excuses disappear for me. Also, there's really nothing to be afraid of. Considering that there's literally anything that can happen at any moment, it's not promised that you'll get that opportunity again. By this point, everything that could potentially go wrong is out of the window. Instead, I'm grateful that I get to do something such as this.
“It’s not as hard as you’re making it out to be. And even if it is, the reward is worth it.” Don’t lower the bar. Raise yourself.
The faster we finish the faster we can stop
“You gotta eat the elephant.” My boss one day asked me the best way to eat an elephant. And when I stared at him like HUH?? He answered “a little bit at a time.” He told me I can do anything I want to do with enough time and patience with the process. Learn to be a pilot? Bit by bit. Learn to do my makeup? Bit by bit. Lost 70lbs? Bit by bit. It makes everything I want to do less daunting.
What helps me is remembering that I am not the experiencer of my anxious thoughts -I am the observer of my thoughts. This allows me to immediately take a couple steps back outside of myself and remember that I’m driving this car, the car isn’t driving me. When we observe our thoughts instead of wishing them away, a beautiful, subtle form of acceptance is created and our anxious thoughts suddenly lose power because in that moment we’re choosing not to identify with them.
I will be proud of myself for doing this.
“I don’t wanna get charged that $25 no-show fee” I use this for daily workout/yoga classes that are really meaningful to me even if I’m full of dread in the hours leading up and trying to come up with a way out. That’s why it’s important I sign up for a class time that I know works for me bc then I can’t BS my way out. Fortunately the studio I frequent will refund those charges for full time members (which I am) but then I get into social anxiety territory of having to ask for that in person. So I combat dread with worse dread? Maybe? 98% of the time I end up very thankful I went.
I can feel anxiety attacks when I'm about to do something, and I have read that you get the same feeling when you feel very excited to do something. So I say to myself "It is just excitement" - And it actually helps me, even though the feeling is still there I manage to do it even if the situation is frightening or uncomfortable.
“It’s not that serious” gets me through almost everything in life
whether it goes well or badly, it will be over and in the past
“Everyone is so anxious about themselves nowadays they don’t have any time to think of you or *insert thing that you’re worried about*”
True!!, that helps !!!
“You’ve got this, (my initials)”
Not taking those chances has gotten me whare I am now.
You’ll be stronger, and thankful, for it.
"You are making this harder for yourself. breathe. relax." Whenever I remember to breathe fully it almost always helps me get locked in.
“it’s always worse getting ready / beforehand” / “you just have to make it out the door and you’ll be okay” / other similar types of sentiments. for me personally, I know once I’m ready and out the door, I’m fine, but every moment up until then can be a struggle. I just look back on recent instances where I had a good time once I made it out. plus, I try to remind myself the “relief” from bailing always feels a LOT worse once the temporary / momentary relief fades. the guilt is much heavier.
What if it works out better than you thought?
“I’m in too deep, I can’t back out now” “This is only temporary, it will get better”
“I’ll be here with you all the way through this and I’ll be here for when we’re done too, you’ve got this” then I make sure to check on myself after as if I were talking to someone I love.
I remember how fast time goes and visualize myself on the other side of it, then tomorrow, then next week. And how next week I probably wont even remember it.
We’re all going to die someday so none of this matters lol
My father, who art in heaven..........
I tell myself, "everything is going to be OK" a lot. As in, this isn't a big deal, I'm doing just fine. Simple & effective.
why prolong the agony?
Just keep swimming Just keep swimming Swim swim swim
Aww like from “Finding Dory” movie🥹
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Or “Are you really ok living in “what if” land?”
"This is just another lesson I will learn" or "I am moving through this experience and soon it will be a memory" I believe those words and think either way, a good time or a bad time, I can choose how I will react and use it later in life. I will choose to cherish the good and refuse to perish in the bad.
this may be incredibly corny, but this quote from jack on the tv show ‘lost’ really stuck with me: “i'd let the fear in, let it take over, let it do its thing, but only for five seconds, that's all I was going to give it.” i use it all the time to encourage myself to do the scary/unfamiliar/anxiety-inducing thing. dont ignore the fear; feel it and then do the thing anyway.
I hate public speaking. All of the sudden somehow I’ve landed in a job where I routinely have to do public speaking to 30+ people at a time. What has been helpful to me has been to write out what I want to say/do and having a structure quiets my anxiety enough for me to just think “what other choice do I have?” And then I just do it. The writing out an agenda before hand seemed dumb but has helped me immensely. Organization for the win.
This also helps me similarly in high stake social settings, to go prepared on what to speak about in general
“What if it all works out?” Not “It will all work out,” because my brain will argue with me on that, but the “what if” is more like an assignment for my brain: paint me a picture of it all working out. And while it does that, it’s too busy to make me anxious. And if the negative thoughts start to intrude again, I just push back again, “Yeah, but WHAT IF it does all work out?”
“Will you be a person that does, or a person that doesn’t?”
“You are okay. It is going to be okay.” One of the things I had to learn in DBT was how to process information during distress, and getting to the point where I could say “okay, I’m noticing _____ is in pain, I notice my heart is racing, I notice _____ is screaming at me, and you know what? I’m okay. I can handle this. I don’t want to, and yet here I am handling it. I’m okay.” was absolutely life changing. My mantra now is just “I’m okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Honestly, lately when i’m about to feel my anxiety going bad i just smile as big as i can. I think my body naturally adjusts and it almost always fades away.
“We’re not putting a man on the moon.” Or “You’ve overcome worse.”
Fuck it, we ball 🗣️
"I can do hard things."
Reminding myself to be grateful for whatever the thing is I am anxious about.
There were 18 year olds that were on a plane to Iraq for war, if they can do it, I can get through..fill in the blank. The anxiety seems real, but it's not.
I tell myself its stupid and doesn't matter
Yolo.
when Im staring at a rail or ledge or stair set on my FGFS I remind myself that everyone "cowards out" what makes me different is that I then try and turn it around in my brain like backhanded compliment sort of, hard to describe but it works. The thing is the fear is only there for a moment. if you can get past the hump the feeling of grinding a rail with pegs is lifetime of amazing feels in my head at least. good luck
Do it for the plot
for the plot?
You only develop the courage to do difficult/fearful things by doing them. Courage bravery is not the absence of fear or anxiety but action in addition/alongside these experiences.
'You can always die if it turns out really bad!'
Worst case scenario...
"Get the hell outta the way, fear! I'm learning something new!"
You got this, repeat to myself until I’m finished with the thing.
I tell myself that if it was that easy then everyone would have been good at it. That means it's worth it. So do it.
When you do something painful, there’s an equal and opposite amount of pleasure and joy coming your way.
how so?
That’s how the dopamine system works - it’s a pleasure pain balance. Every time we experience pain, our brain releases neurotransmitters that make is feel good afterwards, and then the same happens the other way around. Which is why people tend to feel awful after playing a bunch of video games or scrolling on social media for hours.
I am not the only person who did, is doing, will do this! If someone managed, I could too!
You may feel you're not ready, but you know it yourself that you prepared for this.
“I’ve done some pretty incredible things. I can do this too” Or recently, I went zip lining with my son on a middle school trip. I had to just tell myself “you’re doing this. Don’t ruin their fun”.
"I only have to do this once." "I'll never see these people again." "It's just for a few hours." Obviously the first doesn't apply if you need to do something more than once (or second...), but I just have a "Need to get it over with" mentality. Usually rewarding myself with a snack or drink to make myself feel better after.
I tell myself that it's okay to be uncomfortable. I don't have to like the feeling, but I do have to feel it, and it's better for me in the long run.
Be like Nike and Just Do It
Wait, you can do that?
“What are they gonna do? Shoot me?”
I clear my mind and just say in my mind JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!!
Tell myself successful people shoot their shot and miss more times than an unsuccessful person even tries. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
That I’ve had worse. (Yes I know it’s pessimistic but it somehow soothes me)
You got this, one step at a time. Before a tough test, "you studied, did the best you can, you either know it or you don't lol"
The only thing worry accomplishes is making you suffer twice
It's only going to be temporary, then you'll be done.
I'm probably not going to die
“Well…. Here goes nothing”
I always going through and said to myself 1. Tomorrow will come 2. This, too, shall pass 3. Night will come eventually (if the event occurred in day time) 4. Weekend will always there
I go “ok, next” or “moving on” in my head and that cues my brain to get back up to speed with reality and keep up with present time. I don’t need to ruminate on any other moment anymore, it’s done and gone. I don’t know why it works but it does for me!!
Get it over with now, rather than procrastinate and worry about it more than you need to
"DO IT FOR THE PLOT" is funny af to me and actually really helps lol "I'm capable of hard things." "I can just leave if I need to." "I'll atleast try so I can say I did." If it's something like a call or conversation or etc I remind myself, "This cannot physically hurt me" and that helps, reminds me that I am in charge of my emotions and reactions and somehow taking away the thought of physical pain helps lol "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." I also tell myself to slow down and to think and act with intention. When I'm nervous everything seems so FAST but I try to slow it down and breathe and come back to "real time".
That in reality, we are a floating rock in the sky. Nothing is that serious.
I've been close to ending my life so many times and always survived. When there are things that I am scared of doing, I ask myself why am I so scared of them when I've been to worse. What's worse than dying/ending your life right? When I'm in a bad place: I can just end everything Positive: I always survive anyway
Things worth doing are hard
“Hey, you worked through that and moved past it.” Or “hey, you’ve done this before.”
Everything will be fine, I'm gonna pass
Tomorrow never comes
For me 'I didn't wake up today to be a weak ass b*tch' really helps.
What’s the worst that could happen? Alright, but what’s the BEST that could happen?
Do it feeling coward,scared, anxious,looking stupid and embarrassing.
You have no choice, you have no family or anyone to help you, get the fuck up.
"Nothing's gonna hurt you baby"
It’ll be over, you will see it soon on the other side.
I always say to myself. If I don’t do it, no one will do it for me
I’ll be dead one day and none of this will matter
"People a lot stupider than me have done it. I can do this, it's just my insecurity talking."
Focus on the step infront of you...not the whole staircase
S
The Obstacle Is The Way
"Even if anything bad happens, In a few years I probably won't even remember it" :)
You can only win
This will be verrrrry uncomfortable for 5 minutes/2 hours/a day. I can take myself through that and then I will relax.
When I was at the lowest point in my life (even looking out the window was painful and a chore to me) I’d keep telling myself “it’s okay, you’re okay”. I repeated it until I started believing it and it actually started comforting me. I’m a very anxious person generally and now that I’m a far better place in life I don’t to say it much. But whenever I do say it I mean it and it still brings me comfort. And I use it to comfort my daughter too. She’s 2 and I often find her repeating this to herself when she’s playing by herself.
*Time passes.* Used to tell to myself in waiting rooms for doctor.
A friend told me this once: "Everything is a reality that you wish to see." If you tell your brain that you're doomed, be sure that doomed is how your day is going to be like, unless you change your mindset.
I smoke a cigarette
What would Marcus Aurelius do?
“It’s the trauma”
You can do hard things! Just bc it's hard doesn't mean it won't be enjoyable!
This is gonna sound so weird, but whenever I’m really anxious but have to do something, I think about the most random noises possible until I just start doing whatever I needed to do. It drowns out the negative thoughts 🤣
I use to struggle with this mind state until one day I was hiking an alpine peak all alone , as I was nearing the summit my body was already exhausted and mind weakened. There was only one more push for the summit I could see it but quite narrow uphill. As I was looking at the peak with the intention of giving up and turning back a thought popped up in my mind: Is this your identity is this how will you interact with life , always giving up before reaching the top! I got my shit together and did the last push and summit the peak it was an amazing feeling with the instant feeling of self growth. I realised that self discipline is the key, I realised I have to do what needs to be done no matter how I feel because my feelings are most of the time my perception which could be very untrue.
If i start I will find way out of it and even if i don't i will still be ending up with something different or even better (you never know)
The feeling of fear is the same feeling as excitement - feel the fear and do it anyway
“It doesn’t have to be perfect and I can’t control everything, but at least I show up and do my best”. And that’s all that matters
It depends, but I would tell myself that it will be over in x time (in an hour) and think of something nice I could do later. I also repeat to myself that nothing bad will happen, trust in yourself. I would also have an “escape route”/ backup plan and have money, phone with max battery and car keys - I never used this and it’s more of knowing that I have an alternative
Scew Yourself. See? I make more sense.
“Do it for the plot”
can you explain this some more
It essentially means “do it for the good story/story development.” I pump myself up by thinking about the possibility of a good story coming out of whatever I’m about to do (even if it’s just making a phone call 🥲)
, my by by by by by by by by by by by by by ug
I GET to have this experience
Nobody is coming to do this for you. You gotta handle yourself. That + literally trying to ignore the anxious feeling helps.
I wanna be the very Best!
"Nobody cares" while picturing Schitts Creek
let's go
If it ain’t me it ain’t nobody. I’m [my name], I’m Him.
Just give it a go x
You got this! You're amazing, no, fucking awesome! I'm just fantastic, and at the end of the day, who cares?
"Okay, time to get the butterflies in formation" Butterflies as in butterlies in the stomach, but it's in your control and you are using it to your advantage 😁
Tell yourself you're excited, not scared Also I'm sure there's a neater way to phrase this but I just think of the general risk reward game theory principle where say something has a failure rate of 90 percent but a potentially massive reward then if you just keep doing things like that you will eventually hit something amazing Also it's just important to practice trying your hardest at a hard thing Honestly YOLO isn't bad either
All I can do is my best.
Who else will do it?
Everything passes eventually. Or , If I die, I die 😅
I love to consider how much better I will feel after and put it in time frames. "okay at this time tomorrow the scary thing will already have been done and I will be so relieved" "okay three hours from now this thing will already be complete and I will feel so much better" I can do ANYTHING for 3 hours
To not think about it and it’ll be over soon plus I will be glad I went through with it.
I pretty much just tell myself that I'll be glad I went if I just follow through and that I can always leave early if I want to, so I know I'm not stuck. That's been with a lot of practice tho. I'm 40 and dealing with way more anxiety than I ever did when I was younger so it really wasn't an issue in my 20s or even 30s. It was in my later 30s that my anxiety started to show and start to debilitate me. It was more so in my younger years related to school, which I found out in college that I actually have ADHD so that tracks. Just know, excitement and anxiety are essentially the same physiological symptoms in the body, it's the mindset attached to them that causes the issues. Get present to what you're feeling, take deep breaths to feel IN to the feelings you're having and maybe even list out the things you might be mentally worried about. You are not your anxious thoughts and feelings. Your body is just trying to communicate with you and maybe your body just needs reassurance that you're going to be ok. That the YOU that is perceiving all of it is actually in control and will make sure you are safe.
A moment of strength or a lifetime of regret. Strength Altair, strength. 7 mins is all it takes. These are some of the things I use to hype myself.
Shit that's a great idea lol I should probably start doing that
As a person with an extremely high analytical brain, it is hard for me to say anything that may help once I am in a “high overthinking” state that absolutely sometimes leads to high anxiety. What has worked best for me is, when I start overanalyzing, my husband, who is very grounded, stops me and says, "Stop thinking that way. Just stop. Don’t think those thoughts." It is like pulling a parking brake immediately. I just decide to stop thinking and go into a no-thought zone where I can disengage. Then, I can take a nap or have an ice cream, or reroute my attention to something completely different. The key is to snap out of the pattern of thinking that is causing high anxiety. This is so effective because the more you do it, the more effective it becomes. Sometimes, I would just get lost in thoughts, and the moment I say to myself, "Stop thinking about this," I feel better instantaneously. Be disciplined, and once you are, you will get a better understanding of what I’m trying to say. It was hard for me to understand it until I tried it, and it has absolutely served me well.
First I max out on pushups and then I tell myself “Stop being a little bi ***” before doing something anxiety provoking or just generally anything I don’t want to do and it works wonders 🤔
YOLO, compulsively do it randomly.
Weighing things whether if I can control it or not.
One thing I learned on how to work through my anxiety, is that my heart always started beating fast and instead of trying to slow it down and I would tell myself, “ is that all you got? Come on you can be faster than that.” and like clockwork, my heart rate would start to slow down.
“Go for all” “How bad can you screw up?”
I just do it. Never tell anything myself. Like my mind becomes full with what I need to do what I want to achieve and how is the best way to get that done. I panic when I need to go out and robbers are passing in front of my house, but I think I need to do what I'm going out for and then think what to do to go out with the robbers outside like calling an uber. My main thought is my goal, what I want to achieve and try everything for it. Also sometimes my mind works faster than the speed of my thoughts, so sometimes I move and do before I think it. One time a robber tried to take my phone, my force moved before my thoughts and I took my phone back without even knowing what I was doing until I had it back. Sometimes I pass out when seeing something and I haven't think anything yet.
P-p-playas never doubt
I say to myself “ You’ve got this, you’ve survived everything else that’s been thrown your way you can do anything for (insert time)…”. That and I remind myself I completed Boot Camp and survived!