Mastering Your Fear and Anxiety in this Difficult Time
Parents address and navigate through seemingly endless stormy waters once their child enters treatment. Having a child in treatment is demanding of our time and resources and most of all, it’s emotionally exhausting.
Our worry and anxiety fluctuate throughout the process and we often find ourselves in this constant state of “fight or flight”, response within ourselves that keep us prepared to take action when dealing with a crisis or a threat. It is a constant state that keeps us striving to take “control” of the fear or worry. The challenge of taking “control” of a situation this way, is that it really only works if we are in physical danger. When dealing with anxiety, perceived or real, our version of taking “control” becomes more of a problem… an emotionally exhausting problem.
There is no doubt that a parent’s fear is real, especially when our child’s needs must be met through more intensive interventions. However, our tendency to allow our thoughts to create and exacerbate anxiety, which keep us in this state of automatic response, constantly reacting to our perceived fears using ineffective tools to take “control”. Below are useful ways to find your Zen as you engage in this journey with your family:
10 Ways to have Long Term Success with Managing your Anxiety
- Find control Within ourselves to decrease the need to control “the situation”
- Change Negative Beliefs
- Cultivate New approaches to Thinking
- Increase Awareness of Thoughts and storylines that we follow, that always Increase Anxiety
- Learn how to stop Replaying the past and Rehearsing a dissatisfying future
- Decrease Self – Judgment and blame
- Distinguish between Urgency and Importance when it comes to situations that need addressed
- Increase Self-Awareness and identify Patterns that are Impacting our success as a parent
- Change Language to change Behavior to increase Self-Awareness
- Learn how to Decrease Expectations and truly allow for Acceptance
