You are looking toward the future, making a list of all the things you want to do and accomplish. The motivation is there and you have set your sights on success, but your anxiety is getting in the way. It creeps in and overwhelms you, making it difficult to make progress. At Care Therapy I know you have the talent to make your goals a reality, you need to tackle your anxiety along the way!
General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can make goal accomplishment seem far away and out of reach. But, this doesn’t mean you have to be left to feel like you are on a hamster wheel of overthinking, fear, and worry. For those facing general anxiety disorder, you can reach your goals and manage your anxiety, too!
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is Challenging, But You Can Accomplish Your Goals
Generalized anxiety can often be a challenge to deal with. It limits the ability to take care of daily tasks and accomplish goals. This is frustrating because what you truly want to do is to get things done. But, sometimes, you can get stuck in a vicious cycle that generalized anxiety disorder creates. One where you start fearing the unknown factors behind your goals and worrying too much about what could go wrong. Next thing you know, you’re stuck in a loop of analysis paralysis and can’t move forward.
Although Generalized Anxiety Disorder is Challenging, You Can Still Accomplish Your Goals and Get Stuff Done By Taking it One Step at a Time.
Here is a protip: The antidote to accomplishing goals is to take action. When it comes to getting started with goals you want to achieve, there’s a tendency to wait for motivation to make it happen. But taking action often leads to motivation. For example, you may not feel motivated to go to the gym but once you start, it becomes easier.
People often have goals along the lines of “never feeling anxious” or “never making mistakes”, but these are unrealistic. It’s normal to feel anxious, and everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It’s part of being human and growing.
So, How Can You Reach Your Goals and Manage Anxiety?
There are certain steps you can take to reach your goals and manage anxiety. These will help create a plan of action that you can stick to. They will also help you stay on track and be mindful of your anxiety.
Realistic and Attainable Goals
Making sure your goals are realistic and attainable is key. If you set your goals too high, it will be too difficult to accomplish them and your motivation will drop. For example, if you have never worked out before then expecting yourself to go to the gym for an hour four times a week is unrealistic. A more realistic goal would be to go to the gym once a week for 20 minutes. Going to the gym four times a week for an hour may be a good long-term goal. However, you need to start with smaller goals and work your way up to the long term.
Helpful Reminder: Start Small and Build Your Way Up!
Take baby steps and work towards a larger goal. Baby steps are achievable and can be built up to reach a larger goal. This will help you stay motivated as each small step will give you the drive to keep pushing forward.
Make Your Goals Specific
When your goals are vague, it is harder to stay motivated and take action. But when your goals are more specific, you are more likely to accomplish them as they are more achievable. For example, if you want to improve your drawing skills, a specific goal may be to draw one still-life picture in the next month and learn one new shading technique. This goal is attainable but also measurable, so you can track your progress.
Pro Tip: Celebrate Small Wins!
As you make progress toward your goals, it’s important to celebrate the small wins you have. Whether it’s accomplishing the small goals on the way to your long-term goal, or simply taking steps to break down the big goal into smaller ones. Celebrating is a great way to stay motivated and reward yourself for the progress you’ve made.
Break Your Goals Down
Breaking down your goals into smaller, achievable tasks will help make them more manageable and less overwhelming. As the helpful reminder stated, it is important to start small and build your way up. This will help you stay motivated and not get too overwhelmed with the goal itself. When you have anxiety, it can be hard to stay focused on big tasks for a long period of time. Breaking them down into smaller tasks will help make them more achievable.
For example, if your goal is to find a new job, one of your smaller goals may be to check sites such as indeed, Linkedin, etc. to see what the options are and make a list of who to contact from there. A helpful reminder during this process is: give yourself time! It’s important to be patient and mindful of your own timeline. When you pressure yourself to make big decisions quickly, it can add to your anxiety. Giving yourself enough time to explore your options will help reduce the anxiety that comes with making big decisions.
Make a Plan
A part of generalized anxiety is that you will always fear the unknown and worry about what the future holds. Making a plan to visualize how you will reach your goals can help ease this fear. It can give you peace of mind. Identifying barriers and setting up a preventative plan will also help you know what to do in the situation that something goes wrong. This will also help your motivation stay high because you won’t be worrying about the plan falling through.
For example, if your goal is to go to the gym, but waking up in the morning is your obstacle, make a plan to go to the gym after work instead. This way, you have time to get into a routine without stressing yourself out too much.
Schedule Your Goals
Scheduling your goals can help you and your anxiety stay organized and make sure that your goals get accomplished. Having tasks broken down into smaller goals, with an allotted timeline for each goal, will help you stay motivated but also accomplish your goals. Seeing tasks getting checked off the list will give you an extra push of motivation and make sure that you stay on track.
Pro Tip: Take Breaks!
It is important to take breaks throughout the process and make sure that you are not overwhelming yourself. Anxiety can be made worse if you are pushing yourself to the limit without taking any breaks. Taking time for yourself to relax will help relieve stress. It can make sure that you can continue working on your goals without burning out.
Your goals don’t have to be put on the back burner because your generalized anxiety tells you not to pursue them. With these steps, reminders, and tips, you will be able to work through the anxiety and make progress toward your goals. You can accomplish these goals and face your anxiety head-on to make your dreams come true.
Find Support for Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Orange County, CA
You can achieve your goals and take control of your generalized anxiety disorder. Your anxiety does not have to be the end of your dreams, and you can get help to make sure that it doesn’t hold you back. At Care Therapy, I know exactly how you feel and I am passionate about helping you overcome your anxiety. With my supportive, encouraging, and positive approach to therapy, we can work together to help you learn life-changing tools that will improve the way you think and feel. You can accomplish your goals and live the life you want. If you are interested in starting Therapy for Generalized Anxiety, follow the steps below to begin your journey to healing.
One: Schedule a Free 30-minute Consultation
Two: Get to know more about me and my Services
Three: Reach out to me via email @support@caretherapyonline.com or call 949-441-CARE
Four: Begin building your self-esteem and managing your generalized anxiety!
Other Therapy Services Offered by Care Therapy ONLINE
In addition to Therapy for Anxiety, I also work with women who are struggling with depression and women who are in the midst of kidney failure and dialysis. We will work together to help you create a strong support system and find the resources necessary to help you live your best life.