You think he may be struggling with anxiety and suspect you need help but are unsure how to find the right anxiety specialist for you? You are not alone in this quest, it’s hard to determine who’s going to work for you from just looking at their profile on psychology today or a google search. Finding the right therapist involves two key features.
While Provo offers beautiful views, social opportunities, quick access to all things outdoors, you find yourself feeling out of sorts and at times like a fish out of water. You know you could benefit from some extra tools & support from someone who gets it and can help you make sense of it all. You’ve tried off of the basic tools to help you manage the pressure, angst, and comparisons and you still feel stuck in the what if’s, how do I measure up’s, the chatter in your head that seems to never sleep.
More Pain, More Gain... Go Hard or Go Home...Train Insane or Remain the Same...
Any of these sayings ring a bell? They’re sentiments I’ve often run (pun intended) into when discussing, exploring, or reading about exercise. These, among other concerning phrases, seem to assert the idea that physical activity is not something to be enjoyed but a painful activity to be endured for the sake of “results”. This idea prevents people, including a younger me and many of my clients, from appreciating what bodies are capable of. I’m here to say, it doesn’t have to be that way (I’m certainly not the first to say this.) So let's talk a bit about intuitive movement and how it differs from mainstream ideas of exercise.
When you look in the mirror, you feel sad and disgusted. A series of negative thoughts run through your head and you worry about leaving your house looking this way. You decide to change your outfit for the 3rd time this morning, but as you’re standing there looking at your clothes you start to feel frustrated. You want to feel confident and think about your body less. You’re tired of negative body image disrupting your life, and you start to think about what you could do to improve your body image...
You want to feel confident about the decisions you make, but self-doubt and fear of what others think often gets in your way.
Your stomach knots up and you ask multiple people for reassurance before making a decision. You may have hoped other’s advice would bring some comfort but ultimately differing opinions have left you feeling confused and even a little angry. It’s impossible to make a decision that everyone agrees with, and you are worried about getting it right. You feel paralyzed and wish you could trust your judgment.
According to Brene Brown, a brilliant social worker and shame-researcher, “shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance or belonging.” It can be crippling and cause us to feel self-loathing, loneliness, and despair. When we’re stuck in shame, we generally don’t feel motivated to make changes, but instead, focus on our many short-comings.
Do you spend hours worrying that you said or did the wrong thing and may have hurt someone’s feelings? Do you obsess over mistakes you made? Do you take responsibility for things outside of your control and feel guilty that you couldn’t do more? Do you agonize over saying no to someone and/or continually agree to do things you don’t want to?
If any of these questions ring true, you might be someone who struggles with excessive guilt.
