Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes

I quote my mother a lot, but it’s because she is a pretty wise woman whom I look up to very much. She will say to me, “Nothing changes if nothing changes,” and she’s absolutely right. She and I had been talking recently about my life and where it’s headed and I had said to her that I feel like I had gone backwards. I feel like I had taken two steps forward and then was catapulted back to where I was years ago; dating the same type of guy, stuck at a crappy job that was making me miserable, complaining about how nothings working out for me. She said that if I don’t make the necessary changes that I need to then nothing’s going to change. I have to change my own circumstances. I have all the power within me and only when I decide to make the changes, would anything change.

You see, only we have power over ourselves. No one else. Nothing else. Even if it doesn’t feel like it, we’ve got the power inside of us. We just have to be strong enough to take our power back and use it. I’ve had the power all along to change my circumstances and all I was doing was complaining. Complaining isn’t solving anything. Complaining isn’t going to pay my bills or take care of my dog or make me happy or get me to where I want to be in life. In order for anything to happen, I have to make it happen myself. I had to start making moves in the right direction and so I took the first step. Go back to therapy. Step one: Complete!

Living with anxiety is a difficult thing. It makes you feel alone and incapable and sometimes you feel defective. You feel helpless and overwrought with fear all the time. That can change and guess what? YOU have the POWER to CHANGE that. You’ve had the power this entire time. You just need to be willing to accept that you’ve got the power. I know that you don’t want to live your entire life feeling this way, I didn’t. Don’t let it stop you from living your best life. Things can and will get better if you just start taking the steps to make them better. You don’t have to start off with some huge thing, just start small. If you’re tired of living this way, stop complaining and start doing. Like my mom said, nothing changes if nothing changes.

Here are some simple things that you can start doing right now:

1.      Start writing.

2.      Check out my “vocabulary” page and get familiar with the Automatic Thoughts

3.      Start reading books about overcoming anxiety, managing anxiety, or coping with anxiety

4.      Research a therapist near you

5.      Call a therapist / make an appointment

6.      Decide, right now, that you want to take your life back

Nothing major has to be done right away. Take a small step in the right direction. Once you start to do that, you will be amazed by what a world without anxiety has in store for you.

Good Luck!

With Love & Support,

Anxiety Girl - xoxo