Where does anxiety come from?

Anxiety is an emotion that comes to us as a form of protection.  From a biological perspective, something internal or external can trigger our brains to think that we are in “harm's” way, and this causes us to have increased worry.  That anxiety and worrying sensation is your body’s way of saying you need to protect yourself.  This is the “fight or flight” response part of the brain.  Chemicals are being released into your brain to increase your heart rate, your blood starts pumping to your muscles, and your breathing quickens; this is in preparation to protect yourself. 

The reality is that sometimes our brains may think there is a threat, but it is not necessarily from a physical standpoint; but rather from an emotional place. Your brain may not be able to tell the difference between a physical threat from an emotional one; it looks at this threat the same way and responds to what your body thinks it needs to protect itself.   It is helpful to reflect on what is triggering this perceived “threat” in your brain.  Sometimes it is someone who is violating your boundaries; sometimes, you are not maintaining healthy boundaries or something of this nature.  For example, someone may be violating your personal space, causing you to feel nervous.  Or you may be over-extending yourself on tasks/responsibilities, and you are feeling overwhelmed with trying to multitask the workload you have. 

Usually, the more intense the anxiety symptoms are, the more challenging it is to organize your thoughts and reflect on what is triggering this fear/threat.  If that is the case, then it is helpful to have some coping skills in your back pocket to help slow or calm your brain down so that you can more effectively manage this perceived threat.  Some basic skills one can use to manage the anxiety symptoms better would be deep breathing exercises or grounding techniques.  It may be necessary to do multiple rounds of either to get your brain to a calmer state.  Deep breathing and grounding techniques can also be good preventative measures if you repeatedly find yourself more anxious.  So making deep breathing and grounding exercises part of your daily routine would help minimize the frequency/intensity symptoms from rising.  It will be more work to make this a part of your routine, but it is the most beneficial approach in the long run.