“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” Deepak Chopra
Coping With Anxiety
Anxiety is a normal emotion. It’s your brain’s way of reacting to stress and alerting you of potential danger ahead. Everyone feels anxious now and then. For example, you may worry when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test or exam, before making an important decision or facing a difficult situation.
Occasional anxiety is OK. But anxiety disorders are different. They are a group of mental illnesses that cause constant and overwhelming anxiety and fear. This can influence your family life, relationships, school, studies, work, career and social interactions, as well as your health, and in severe cases can feel debilitating.
Personally, I was a highly functioning anxiety sufferer, producing fabulous events and international projects, whilst my body was caving in a few years ago. Yes, we can push ourselves well beyond our body’s internal resistive forces right through adrenal burn-out and internal body systems collapsing. I had virtually no support structure and felt like I was carrying the entire world at that stage, so yes, I relate to anxiety on a personal level. Setting yourself free from this cycle is life-changing; part of the process is also learning to set and keep boundaries.
There are different types of anxiety which may affect people’s lives and daily coping abilities.
- Generalized anxiety disorder includes persistent and excessive anxiety and worry about activities or events — even ordinary, routine issues. The worry is out of proportion to the actual circumstance, is difficult to control and affects how you feel physically. It often occurs along with other anxiety disorders or depression.
- Panic disorder. You feel sudden, intense fear that brings on a panic attack. During a panic attack you may break out in a sweat, have chest pain, and have a pounding heartbeat (palpitations). Sometimes it may feel like you’re choking or having a heart attack.
- Social anxiety disorder or social phobia. This is when you feel overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. You obsessively worry about others judging you or being embarrassed or rejected.
- Specific phobias. You feel intense fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights or flying. The fear goes beyond what’s appropriate and may cause you to avoid ordinary situations.
- Agoraphobia. You have an intense fear of being in a place where it seems hard to escape or get help if an emergency occurs. For example, when on an airplane, public transportation, or standing in line with a crowd.
- Separation anxiety. Anyone can get separation anxiety disorder, not just little children. If you do, you’ll feel very anxious or fearful when a person you’re close with leaves your sight. You may constantly worry that something bad may happen to your loved one.
- Selective mutism. This is a type of social anxiety in which young kids who talk normally with their family don’t speak in public, at school or other social interactions.
- Medication-induced anxiety disorder. Use of certain medications or illegal drugs, or withdrawal from certain drugs, can trigger some symptoms of anxiety disorder.
Tips on dealing with anxiety
- Take a time-out. Practice yoga or Pilates, listen to music or meditate. Stepping back from the problem helps clear your head.
- Try Body Stress Release – Moreletapark rethabsr.co.za
- Eat well-balanced meals. Do not skip any meals. Do keep healthful, energy-boosting snacks on hand.
- Limit alcohol and caffeine, which can aggravate anxiety and trigger panic attacks.
- Get enough sleep. When stressed, your body needs additional sleep and rest.
- Exercise daily to help you feel good and maintain your health.
- 3 Things to focus on during an anxiety attack – something you can see, something you can touch, something you can smell – places the focus on something outside of the anxiety.
- Do your best. Instead of aiming for perfection, which isn’t possible, be proud of however close you get.
- Welcome humour. A good laugh goes a long way.
- Learn what triggers your anxiety. Is it work, family, school, or something else you can identify? Write in a journal when you’re feeling stressed or anxious and look for a pattern.
- Talk to someone you can trust. Tell friends and family you’re feeling overwhelmed and let them know how they can help you.
Free Anxiety Test
Please note: Online screening tools are not diagnostic instruments. You are encouraged to share your results with a physician or healthcare provider if needed. Retha Bodenstein Transformation Coaching disclaim any liability, loss, or risk incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the use and application of these screens.
Self-Test for Anxiety
This questionnaire – called the GAD-7 screening tool – can help you find out if you might have an anxiety disorder that needs treatment. It calculates how many common symptoms you have and – based on your answers – suggests where you might be on a scale, from mild to severe anxiety.
GAD-7 stands for “generalized anxiety disorder” and the 7 questions in the tool. Choose one answer for each of the 7 questions below:
| Over the last 2 weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems? | Not at all | Several days | More than half the days | Nearly every day |
| 1.Feeling nervous, anxious or on edge | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2.Not being able to stop or control worrying | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3.Worrying too much about different things | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4.Trouble relaxing | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 5.Being so restless that it’s hard to sit still | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6.Becoming easily annoyed or irritable | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 7.Feeling afraid, as if something awful might happen | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Totals |
Add up your results for each column
Total score (add column totals together)
What your total score means
Your total score is a guide to how severe your anxiety disorder may be:
0 to 4 = mild anxiety
5 to 9 = moderate anxiety
10 to 14 = moderately severe anxiety
15 to 21 = severe anxiety
If your score is 10 or higher, or if you feel that anxiety is affecting your daily life, relationships, personal life, please contact me for a FREE 30min coaching session with a qualified Transformation Coach.
The GAD-7 was developed by Drs. Robert L. Spitzer, Janet B. W. Williams, Kurt Kroenke, and colleagues, with an education grant from Pfizer, Inc.
How do I assist you with Anxiety as a Transformation Coach?
We go back to the source of the anxiety because we can not control the outside of our reality if we are struggling because of inner turmoil, therefore we go to the root cause of anxiety to facilitate your personal breakthrough by dealing with and healing the internal emotions or beliefs holding you back.
Constantly obsessing and thinking about an outcome that we DO NOT want will aggravate anxiety, because you are focussing on and imagining every aspect that can possibly go wrong in that scenario that you are creating in your mind’s eye. If you want to change your behaviour and your outcomes in life, it is crucial to get rid of the heavy chains and shackles of these negative feelings of doubt, fear and all limiting beliefs that trigger the anxiety and then install a new positive self-image.
As a Transformation Coach, I offer you this one-of-a-kind Transformation Coaching System™ Programme and Technique which effectively get to the root causes, remove and collapse the negative emotions, triggers and beliefs that causes your anxiety. During this intense process we facilitate transformation within you, in order for you to control your emotions and ultimately the results and goals you desire.
I offer different programmes that deal with anxiety disorders to adjust to each client’s unique needs and circumstances. This can be done in person or online.
- Full Life Transformation Programme: Recommended. This phenomenal process is highly effective for clients who suffer from social phobia, general anxiety disorder and panic attacks. We find and go to the root cause, eliminate the negative emotions, and install a new self-image.
- Emotional Freedom Technique: Also referred to as Tapping. During this one-hour session, we guide you through the process of using your fingertips to gently stimulate energy points in your body to improve the natural flow of energy throughout your body. This can also be effective for dealing with physical pain.
- Anxiety Eliminator: Here I will take you through a process of focussing on an event or circumstances which can cause anxiety due to fear. This can be effective in dealing with anxiety before exams, speeches or a dreaded presentation.
- Phobia Eliminator: This process was designed specifically to deal with phobias or past trauma/s that trigger and or aggravate your anxiety.
Once you have gone through the Full Life Transformation Programme, you will experience:
- Inner-peace and Tranquillity;
- Freeing yourself from your Negative Emotions and Beliefs that are preventing you from healing and thriving;
- Silence that Inner Conflict that is constantly at war in your mind with lies such as “I am not good enough”, “I am not worthy”;
- Create your new empowering Self-Image and UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for YOURSELF!
I offer a safe and secure environment to my clients where you are truly able to let go of any negative emotion or belief that is keeping you trapped in the state of anxiety and fear.
The Full Life Transformation programme will phenomenally change your life in a way that is truly unimaginable