Did You Know Anxiety Can Become a Habit?
I recently heard Judson Brewer on an episode of the podcast Ten Percent Happier in which he said that being anxious can become a habit.
Wait, what?? Anxiety can be a habit? Like smoking or checking your email over and over? Holy moly!
I’ve written about it many times before, but I have certainly felt my share of anxiety, so this information sounded very important to me.
After I listened to the podcast, I immediately put Brewer’s book, Unwinding Anxiety, on hold at the library, and was thrilled when I got it only a day or two later. Learning that being anxious can be a habit was already so helpful for me to hear, I knew reading the book would provide even more information that would be important to me.
(Want to watch a video on the topic? Here ya go.)
Mapping Out Anxiety Habit Loops
There is TONS of great information in this book, but one of the most important things to start with is learning how to map out your anxiety habit loops.
All habit loops are made up of three things:
- Trigger
- Behavior
- Result (or Reward)
I’ve read other books about habits before, but this is the first time it’s made complete sense to me. You can map out all sorts of habits, but let’s talk about some that have to do with being anxious.
My Anxious Habit Loops
Here are a few examples I wrote down in my own journal:
- Trigger: Thinking about what needs to be done in my business
- Behavior: Get nervous, push myself, worry
- Result: Anxious feelings in my body, a feeling of “never enough”
- Trigger: My daughter being outside playing with other kids (no adult supervision)
- Behavior: Worry about all the things that could go wrong
- Result: Anxiety
- Trigger: Open, unfocused time with no tasks
- Behavior: Nervousness, a sense of uncertainty, worry about what I “should” be doing
- Result: Anxiety
Can you relate to any of these? Try mapping out your own habit loops, noticing when you feel anxious and then back-tracking to what got you there, if necessary.
Bringing Mindfulness to Anxiety Habit Loops
Once you’ve learned to notice the habit of anxiety, and the triggers that lead to being anxious, you’ll need to bring awareness aka mindfulness to them.
It’s one thing to know that some of your anxiety is a habit, it’s another to change that habit.
Become aware of what the anxiety is doing for you. Check in with yourself and ask “what’s this doing for me” and “how is this helping me?”
According to Brewer, you need to retrain your brain into realizing that the result/reward of anxiety isn’t actually helping you. You may subconsciously think anxiety helps you make progress, or that worrying will protect you or your family, but once you bring presence to the habit loop, you’ll see and feel how anxiety is not helping you.
I’ve found this process incredibly helpful, and I hope you do, too. If you want to add some more goodness to your life, try this therapeutic art exercise!