3 Common Types of Anxiety (and How to Deal)
Not only is anxiety not bad, but when you understand the mechanics behind why it’s there and what it’s trying to say, anxiety is actually good. Great, even.
Nobody enjoys the experience of anxiety, and yet it is a part of every person’s life on this planet.
I used to believe that anxiety could be eradicated, that it was part of a faulty mechanism in the mind that could be healed and permanently silenced, but as it turns out, not all anxiety is bad, and it certainly isn’t without purpose, and for this reason, it can also never be turned off, nor does it need to be in order for us to live a fulfilling life. In fact, not only is anxiety not bad, but when you understand the mechanics behind why it’s there and what it’s trying to say, anxiety is actually good. Great, even. It is part of a vital feedback loop of information that runs between the body, the mind and our outer circumstances.
So, without further ado, let’s explore the three most common types of anxiety, what they mean, and how to handle them when they surface.
types of anxiety + How to deal:
1. Tension Anxiety
This first branch of the anxiety tree is the gentlest and also the one that we can work with the most easily, applying its lessons to our lives to propel our creativity and productivity forward. I’ve labeled it tension anxiety because it feels like a little alarm going off within the body, something that alerts us to impending changes needing to be made, more creative solutions needing to be invented.
This is the kind of anxiety you might wake up with on a Monday morning after a weekend of rest; an electric feeling of “so many things to do,” that serves as a motivation. A kick in your behind.
This type of anxiety is part of maintaining the natural tension we require in life to constantly push us to achieve more, evolve further and do better. It’s not bad because without it, we’d probably be more likely to be satisfied with the mediocre, settling for less than what our souls deserve.
How to deal: The next time you experience tension anxiety, the kind that seems to pick you up from a slumber and stir you into motion, whether it’s to your notebook to write out a fresh flow of ideas, or to the kitchen to deep clean and invite new energy into your home, this anxiety asks for change, novelty, and the birthing of newer and better circumstances, and that’s exactly how you should work with it.
Keywords: Tension, unsettled; need for change, productivity or insightful problem-solving.
2. Resistance Anxiety
This second type of anxiety is far less pleasant, because it drudges up our limiting narratives about what we’re able to accomplish. Resistance anxiety surfaces when we are putting too many expectations on ourselves, placing unnecessary pressure on our creative energies, and just generally holding on too tightly to the circumstances of our lives. That’s why it’s connected to our limiting narratives, because it’s these narratives that keep us in a state of feeling like we need to control everything, lest it all fall apart. It is a symptom of our inability to trust in life, and an echo of the negative experiences that caused us to lose our faith in reality being essentially “good” in the first place.
This is the kind of anxiety that makes you feel lost, afraid and sick to your stomach. It brings up thoughts and ideas that lead you to feel like your own mind is against you, like you are your own worst enemy. And it’s happening because your ego is inflamed for some reason, usually because you feel that if you don’t apply your logical mind to achieve the goal you are set on achieving, you might never get the outcome you desire in life. Of course, this brings on a feeling of great grief.
You can think of this type of anxiety as being synonymous with the experience of contraction. It feels like you’re missing something, and the answer to the equation feels numinous and hard to find. But don’t fret, there is something you can do to shift this feeling, and that something is called surrender.
How to deal: Take a glance at whatever it is that you’re holding onto for dear life, and let it go. If you can do that, you will also ease the resistance and anxiety that are in your system.
If you can relax into trusting the universe again, trusting that the answers and the path of action will come to you at the right time, you can melt this form of anxiety away.
As much as we want to believe that by having a logical plan of action, our life is “in control” and we are then made “safe” from the perils of the unknown that we may fear, it is not always so. We need to be open to an active dialogue with reality to guide us in the right direction, and that means relying on our intuition, inner guidance, and the information that reality is currently presenting us (and not our logical mind and all its plans) to peacefully move forward.
The unknown is the way of life. It will never be any differently, no matter how hard you grasp, so try your best to get comfortable with it.
Keywords: Fear, contraction, feeling lost; need for surrender and releasing control.
3. Crippling Anxiety
This form of anxiety often brings us to a collapse point. It engenders an enormous amount of fear or terror, and indicates that something unresolved is coming into consciousness to be released, and that is the only way to go about dealing with it.
Crippling anxiety is the sort that pulls us out of our usual, day-to-day activities to leave us in a naked dialogue with the self. Something wants to be heard, something is asking to be integrated, but all we feel is confusion and extreme fear. However, despite the intense experience, knowing that it’s happening in order to prompt a healing release helps us to move through it.
This form of anxiety is always a reflection of past issues and traumas that are still being worked out by the psyche. It typically consumes our entire being for a short amount of time in an effort to pull one into the unconscious long enough to make progress on the issue at hand. It asks that we disconnect from our mundane responsibilities in order to cultivate the spiritual side of our beings, so that our soul can receive the nourishment it requires in order to release just a little bit more of those deep-rooted false beliefs that hold us back.
The narrative going off in the mind often feels life-or-death when we are immersed in crippling anxiety. “I’m not taken care of,” the mind wails, “everything is against me and I may not survive, or even worse, I may end up in a circumstance that will drive the very life force out of me.” If you recognize these thoughts and feelings, do not fear. It feels like death because something is dying, and that something is the ego.
How to deal: What you need to seek out here is a breakthrough, because there is one on the other side of this temporary state of madness. You need to go within, mobilize all your mindfulness practices and psychic courage, and work with the feelings that are surfacing. Get really honest with yourself: what are you afraid of and how can you mother yourself through that fear?
If you can witness the shadow part of the psyche that is trying to unveil itself to you at this time, if you can accept that you feel the way you do, you can access a release; sometimes even tears, and that is very good. That is what breaks the terror and instantly helps you to feel better.
Keywords: Terror, trauma response; requires withdrawal, focus on healing and release.
As you can see, there are many messages in the experience of surfacing anxiety. Some guide us into action, others into surrender, and others into a state of release so that our true, God-self can shine more brightly in our lives.
However you look at it, you can now know and understand that just because you feel anxious, it doesn’t mean anything bad is about to happen, or that your limiting narratives that tend to surface at this time are true. The trick is to look more deeply behind the face of the monster and see that it is simply the birthing and rebirthing of the soul in disguise, the force of your own creative life force energy looking to run more freely through your life.
Knowing you no longer have to fear the experience of anxiety is a deeply settling thought, and one that lets you proceed with less confusion and self-doubt.
You are not lost, or “wrong,” or incompetent. You are just living with the experience of the body-soul, and one aspect of that is the natural tension that we call anxiety, subtler at times while raging at others, but never with the intention to bring you down. It’s all a part of the process of life.
So, take heed in these ways of addressing and managing your anxiety and next time, you’ll be better prepared for the soul disguised as monster, awakening to guide your life in a better direction.
With love,
Ines Heals
