Surfing the Wave -Coping with Anxiety Part 1.

The first step to coping with anxiety is to be able to be able to feel or experience the emotions and sympt

oms that occur during the onset of anxiety. If we react to these feelings or experiences in a negative way we allow the anxiety to last longer than it should and we prevent ourselves from putting effect strategies in place to deal with the anxiety. This is best liken to surfing the wave. When the wave first hits (especially when unexpected) it can be exhilerating or terrifying, if we acknowledge the wave and ride it out we will come safely to shore, but if we fight the wave we pulled under the currents struggling to rise above the water.

When you suffer from anxiety it is hard to get you to just allow yourself to feel uncomfortable for a while. It is hard to remember if you just breathe through it, it will go away and you will be able to then use some positive strategies to deal with the underlying issues. So step one is getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and learning to just be still through it. Most feelings and symptoms of anxiety will last less than a minute if we surf the wave.

A great book for kids to read is Surfing the Worry Imp's Wave by Sharon Selby.