How I overcame my anxieties

Like millions of regular people, I have anxieties.  I have a rough time sleeping, I stress, and I get depressed.  Very typical behavior for many people.

Rather than pretending these issues were not real, I built an Android application and met them head on!  I created Behavior Therapy Tracker and through its constant use I was able to overcome many of my anxieties.

Let me explain my story and I hope it can help you as much as it has helped me.

It all began when I realized I had to understand my behavior.  Why am I stressed?  Why am I feeling anxious?  What are the reasons for these feelings?

This was really hard for me.  I cannot stress this factor.  I’m very action oriented so stopping and thinking was and still is not easy.  However, I am slowly getting better.  Or more importantly, my brain is learning to simply take action (like it always has for me) and it starts conquering my anxieties for me.  This of course has taken a lot of time and patience, but it’s starting to pay off now.

The goal of my Android app was simple.  Track each and every behavior that I’m feeling.  For example, many days I come home and feel stressed about participating in my busy household.  So each day, I would come home and track this behavior.  The keys to tracking this behavior were the following:

–        Rating how strong the feeling

–        Attempting to apply a refocusing activity to relieve the stress

–        And most importantly was it successful

I have a very easy to learn technique that helped me overcome this feeling.  Again, it takes time, but really works.

The technique is all about positive thinking.  AKA talking to yourself.  Here is an example dialog I would have:

Why are you feeling stressed?

Because I’m didn’t feel like I finished my work.

Ok.  Is it important that it has to be finished today?

No.

Then why is it bothering you?

Because I couldn’t solve the problem.

If you keep banging your head will it come to you?

No.

What about if you have a fresh start tomorrow, do you think that will help?

Yes.

Ok, so leave it until tomorrow and tackle from a fresh perspective.

Ok.

Feels a little bit silly doesn’t it?  But it works.  So using my Behavior Therapy Tracker application, I would track the behavior, enter my refocusing activity and whether it was successful or not.

I repeated this daily for over a month.  After about a month, I found that I would come home and no longer feel stressed.  I’m no Doctor, but I believe my brain was simply having this conversation subconsciously with myself.

Summary

Behavior therapy tracking and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is really powerful stuff and it can completely change your life.  I hope my story and if you have an Android phone, my application can help you, like it has helped me.