Anxiety Therapy
Are You Emotionally And Physically Exhausted By Life’s Demands?
Does it feel like no matter what you do, you never get enough done or do anything the right way?
Is a never-ending to-do list keeping you awake and alert at all hours?
Do you avoid creating meaningful boundaries, causing you to say yes when you really want to scream NO?
Perhaps you worry about not being good enough or internalize impossible expectations for yourself. Fear of not reaching the bar you set for yourself is not the only thing driving your worries—you probably find yourself thinking “this should come naturally,” or “I should be able to do this without help.”
As a result, you’ve always been a hustler, maybe even a perfectionist or overachiever. If you were given a report card for saying yes, you’d get straight A’s every time. Yet, without enough time in the day to slow down or check every box, you’re exhausted. You may not remember the last time you had energy for anything, including fun hobbies, self-care, or your relationship. Date night? Nonexistent. Sex? Off the table.
Work, childcare, and the million other things you have to do are constantly getting in the way, but you wake up every morning—after yet another restless night of sleep—just to do it all over again. Everyone around you comments on how you manage everything so seamlessly, but you know on the inside, you’re tired, overwhelmed, and ashamed of feeling like you need help.
Lacking Support, You May Often Feel Agitated Or Irritable
The exhaustion of “doing it all” has probably built up to create anger and resentment. Maybe you feel like your partner doesn’t do enough, or you worry when your temper flares in front of your kids. You’re caught in a cycle of fatigue, reactivity, and guilt, but you’d rather keep doing everything yourself instead of establishing healthy boundaries or having difficult conversations.
The truth is, for all that you’ve accomplished, it’s been a long time since YOU were the top priority in your life. But that can change. By committing to therapy, you can learn to make decisions based on self-preservation and empowerment rather than fear and anxiety.
Perfectionists And Over-Extenders Are Experts In Anxious Thinking
It’s easy to write anxiety symptoms off as ordinary stressors of being human. After all, anxiety is necessary to keep us alert and safe. But when anxiety becomes our predominant experience, it’s important to seek treatment to help cope with symptoms.
So, what’s the difference between anxiety and common everyday stressors? Perhaps it just feels like an argument with your hubby, just a missed deadline, or just another example of comparing yourself to what you see on Instagram. However, when life feels like a constant tug-of-war between how it is and how it should be, it may be time to consider if there’s more beneath the surface than just stress.
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenge—affecting nearly a third of all adults at some point—but they are highly treatable with therapy. Unfortunately, those of us who struggle are often natural achievers, causing us to feel the need to just keep going or avoid asking for help. It’s easier to focus on getting the laundry done, playing with our kids, or distracting ourselves with work than to genuinely face the fear and anxiety suffocating us.
As a therapist, I can offer you uninterrupted, individualized counseling that will give you the space and time needed to explore your anxiety. By learning to listen to, nurture, and care for yourself in anxiety treatment, you can enjoy life more fully.
Therapy Can Help You Befriend Your Anxiety Instead Of Avoiding It
If nagging fears and worries constantly play on loop, you probably feel like you never have any time to just be. Therapy gives you permission to become present, shift focus onto yourself, and explore your anxiety so that you can figure out how to quiet it. Our time together will not come with expectations—counseling can simply be your designated space to reflect on and overcome your anxiety.
My Approach
Once you have completed an intake that allows me to get to know you and your anxiety symptoms a little better, we will use early therapy sessions to get to know one another and find out more about the root causes of your anxiety. As we better understand where some of your fears and beliefs developed, we can establish individualized coping techniques to help you adjust your relationship with your anxious thoughts.
In the process of identifying your worries, we may discover unresolved trauma or negative self-beliefs impacting your thought process and self-esteem. As such, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used in therapy to help you resolve the trauma that may be propelling your anxiety. By targeting trauma at the body-based level, you are likely to experience more peace, calm, and positive self-regard.
I am both a problem-oriented and solution-focused therapist, which means I offer meaningful coping skills to address surface-level symptoms while providing you with insight into deeper issues. My style is a blend of gentle accountability and enthusiastic cheerleading so that you can celebrate the life-changing progress that’s possible in anxiety treatment.
Your anxiety isn’t bad—it’s just making you feel bad. By befriending and listening to your anxiety in therapy, you can learn how to respond in a healthier way that doesn’t involve overextending yourself or ignoring your boundaries. With a little bit of curiosity and some bravery, you can finally choose yourself—and simply by being here, you’ve already started.
Perhaps You’re Interested In Therapy For Anxiety But Aren’t Sure If It Will Actually Help…
I already have so much going on - how will I make time for anxiety treatment?
It’s true—you do have a lot going on. Whether you’re juggling work demands or responsibilities at home, it can be very difficult to find time for therapy. However, this tells me that you have learned to manage the needs of others, so it’s important that you learn to manage your needs too. Therapy can help you better understand your anxiety so that you feel calmer, more capable, and worthy of self-care.
I am worried that if I face my anxiety, my symptoms will get worse or I will push my partner/child away.
One of the great benefits of anxiety counseling is that it creates space in your life for more awareness. The values you have surrounding your partner and child are strong values—they will guide you through this process. Therapy can help you change the patterns that don’t serve you as you embrace the qualities that align with who you want to be.
I don’t want to change every aspect of myself even if some aspects work against me.
You are ultimately in charge of your own roadmap. In the process of growth and transformation, you may naturally put up your defenses unless you’re able to fully embrace progress. We will work together to establish your goals for counseling—challenging anxiety where it doesn’t help you and embracing it where it does.
Practice Putting Yourself First
It’s possible to live with less fear and stress. As your therapist, I will help you explore, understand, and cope with anxiety so you can thrive—and not just survive—in life. For more information about anxiety therapy in Fort Myers, contact me or call (239) 848-2022.
Relevant Posts
How to Be a “Team Player” Even Though You Really Need a Break
When it comes to the workplace, we all want to seem like Superman. Unfortunately, we all have limits that we will reach sooner or later.
Handling the Stress That Comes with High Levels of Success
Achieving professional success (or any other way you choose to define success) is something people strive for their entire lives. However, as the adage goes, with great power comes great responsibility—and along with that, even greater stress levels.
What Is High Functioning Anxiety?
Like most things, anxiety occurs in degrees. It exists on a spectrum, at one end with some people who have absolutely crippling anxiety, and at the other exists individuals who have no anxiety. Somewhere in between these two lies people with high-functioning anxiety.