As a dude who struggles with anxiety, I’ve researched a lot of tools, books, techniques, etc. for dealing with it.
One of the best books I’ve ever read about anxiety is a book called Feeling Great by Dr. David Burns.
He explains the reason many of his patients “hold on” to their anxiety is because they have actual grief about letting it go.
Not sure about you, but personally, this was really revolutionary for me:
It’s not necessarily fear of success (although you may have some of that too) that holds you back, so much as your grief of letting go of all those habitual, anxious thoughts that have once “protected” you thus far in life, that now no longer serve you.
Anxiety served up in a tiny shot glass can bring us back to our senses in certain situations and help us get our crap together.
But it’s also true that when you have too much anxiety, it has the opposite effect, and shrinks your boner or whatever the case may be…
So it’s paradoxical that in order to feel more calm, it helps when I address the sadness and grief of letting go of those age-old thoughts of terror I not only befriended along the way, but somehow made my lifelong besties.
Now, only you can ascertain for yourself which straws in your anxiety-nest are the ones you’re unnecessarily holding on to because you’re too sad to let them go…
So I leave it to you to decide what to do next, but I certainly invite you to consider throwing this tactic at your own anxiety, and see what happens.
I’d be surprised if it doesn’t dial down your anxiety a little, if only just by 10%.
-Paul