Those Subtle 'ANXIETY TRAPS'

 

HOW often when something different sometimes gets tagged [by our brain] as dangerous?  Probably from time to time based on my own experiences.  BUT that still perplexes me even as we speak now.  And it's a BIG WHY!  BUT for us to simplify this equation, maybe let's DICE & DRILL it farther.  Firstly, if there is something different, it could mean that CHANGE may be brewing, right?  And to do a mapping of this dilemma to our brain, psychologists opine that that's WHERE the ANXIETY TRAP looms.  True, ANXIETY is wierd enough as it is NOT just a feeling.  Instead, it is our brain's 'ancient' alarm system going haywire in this modern world.  In essence, it is that 'mash up' of two very helpful survival systems:  FEAR and PLANNING.  Indeed, these two variables are intertwined enough📗📙📘

Frankly, we are partly responsible WHEN we unconsciously evolve fear to detect real threats in the present moment.  Predators, natural disasters, imminent physical danger, name it, we tend to evolve planning to help us string together previous moments of success and use those to predict WHAT the future might look like.  Verily true, conventional wisdom tells us that we can convince people to be more flexible and less risk-averse, LIKE telling people to 'GET ON WITH IT' and just stop complaining, sort of❎❎❎

NOT to blame our brains BUT psychologists are implicitly implying that train of thought.  As our brains have evolved to really like CERTAINTY, WHICH stems from our basic drive to survive.  LIKE we seem to have noticed evolving to predict and control our circumstances because doing so optimizes our own ability to live life.  And WHEN we experience CHANGE, experts tell us that our brain can interpret it as a 'threat' OR as a 'challenge'.  The scary part here is WHEN our brain tags it as a 'threat' because WHAT happens next, your guess is as good as mine.  It can then potentially lead to distress once we get exposed to the demands posed by the environment.  Worse, we could feel being forced to go way beyond our own limits OR our capacity to cope.  And that's WHEN we experience detrimental effects a.k.a. DISTRESS😡😡😡

As things would possibly turn from bad to worse, to quote the medical experts, as our hearts beat faster, and vascular resistance makes it harder to push blood through our circulatory system.  In the shortest words, our physiological resources are NOT efficiently mobilized.  And to 'up the ante', we are likely to experience negative emotions like feeling anxious OR frustrated.  And suddenly, thoughts like "I CAN'T DO THAT" may likely creep through our minds, causing us to feel stuck in the current situation even without an apparent solution in sight.  However, WHEN we experience CHANGE as a challenge, LIKE a potentially interesting opportunity coming up [either @workplace or in business], it is WHEN we are more likely to experience EUSTRESS because the new environment demands seem within our abilities and limitations💚💛💜

Our takeaway:  Bottom line here is, regardless WHETHER we perceive significant CHANGE moments in our life as either a threat OR as a challenge, that greatly alters our emotional,  physical and even mental experiences.  And it turns out that it's possible to shift HOW we experience difficult CHANGE moments through our mindsets.  In general, mindsets reflects HOW we see things and they impact both our beliefs and even our behaviors.  Interestingly, psychologists opine that our behaviors impact our mindsets too, so by practising specific actions, we can help shift our mindsets to be more agile in the face of CHANGE.  In this way, mindsets are almost LIKE a muscle that can be trained.  And to hear more from the experts, they tell us that it is possible to develop a growth mindset that will help us persist and thrive through CHANGE, for us to extricate as swiftly and as effortless as possible from those subtle ANXIETY TRAPS😌😌😌