There’s no doubt about it – we are living in stressful times!

Our days are busier than ever, between the demands of work, friends, family, relationships, a side-hustle (or two!), our health, finances, the ever-changing political and social climate, and just about anything else.

With these factors in mind, it’s easy to see how stress and anxiety are at an all-time high in today’s world. In fact, according to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.”

And if you deal with anxiety, you know how incredibly paralyzing it can be. But even just understanding common triggers of anxiety, and being able to proactively prevent them from happening, or having actionable strategies for dealing with these triggers when they strike can make anxiety a little less scary.

Here are four of the most common anxiety triggers, and how you can proactively and re-actively address them.

1. Feeling of overwhelm

Overwhelm is one of the most common triggers of anxiety. Usually, the root of feeling overwhelmed is really a feeling of things being out of control. Lack of control is a scary concept – It’s the reason why theories like “the Law of Control” make so much sense. This theory (referred to by psychologists as the “locus of control” theory) states that you feel good about yourself to the degree to which you feel you are in control of your own life. You are your happiest, most authentic, confident self when you feel that you are the master of your own destiny.

So when you feel out of control of your life, you feel overwhelmed, stressed, sad, de-energized and un-confident. This is why overwhelm-based anxiety is so damaging.

The solution to anxiety from overwhelm is to take back control piece by piece. If there is a specific event that’s causing you overwhelm, make a list on paper of things surrounding that event that you can control, versus things you can’t control.

If your overwhelm anxiety is stemming from just having WAY too much going on to keep track of (I’ve been there!), then start taking back control by writing it ALL down. What’s causing you stress? The act of physically getting it down on paper will already help you feel more in control of your life by wrangling all of these elements into one place.

Once you have your arms around the actual factors that are causing you overwhelm and anxiety, then you can start to diminish these things, piece by piece, bit by bit.

Here’s a strategy for you to try – I call it the “Just do one thing” Method. When I’m feeling super overwhelmed, or unmotivated, I ask myself, “What can I ‘at least’ do?” What’s one small thing (and it can be incredibly, incredibly small!) that I can tackle just to do something that will help me feel better and more in control of my current situation.

Sometimes that thing is taking a small, yet decisive action to diminish what’s causing you stress. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by a huge project, maybe your “small thing” becomes bullet-ing out every moving piece of the project. Or maybe it’s something even smaller, like setting up a meeting to talk to a key stakeholder in the project that will help get things moving.

Just taking these small actions will help you regain some control in you life, which will help reduce your overwhelm and anxiety.

Don’t underestimate the power of just doing one thing. Remember: “Success is a series of small wins.”

2. Overthinking and over-analyzing

Another common trigger of anxiety is overthinking and over-analyzing, and, in many cases, jumping immediately to worst-case scenario. If you are constantly finding yourself thinking “what if” sentences, then this is a sure sign that you are overthinking.

If you notice this happening within your own mind, then force yourself to take pause and think back to the question or problem that’s causing you to spiral into over-analysis.

What the problem? Is there a solution to the problem? Even if you’re not sure what that solution is yet, is there one that exists or is achievable?

There’s a great piece of advice from The 14th Dalai Lama, (as published in The Hindustan Times) that elaborates on how the existence of a solution can immediately halt anxiety and stress.

“If that situation or problem is such that it can be remedied, then there is no need to worry about it. In other words, if there is a solution of a way out of the difficulty, you do not need to be overwhelmed by it. The appropriate action is to seek its solution. Then it is clearly more sensible to spend your energy focusing on the solution, rather than worrying about the problem. Alternatively, if there is no solution, no possibility of a resolution, then there is also no point in being worried about it, because you cannot do anything about it anyways. In that case, the sooner you accept this fact, the easier it will be for you.”

So first, to stop overthinking, determine if there is a solution that’s possible. You don’t have to know what that solution IS yet, you just have to answer the question: is there a solution here? Yes or no? If there is – great. You just to have figure out what it is! If not – even better. Resolve to accept that you cannot change the outcome, and shift your focus to more important things.

The question “what if” and so much of anxiety from overthinking is caused by living either in the past or the future, and not in the present moment. When you can contentedly live in the present, you’ll find that it’s a lot easier to just “be.”

To help you stay in the present moment, try developing and using a centering mantra – something like, “I am safe. I am happy. I am blessed” to help bring you into the present.

3. Chronic stress

Chronic stress or anxiety is a tough trigger, because it can be harder to find the root of it. But the solution here is to identify what’s causing you stress, and what you can do about it.

I have a personal anecdote to share here that I hope will be helpful:

A little over 4 years ago, I had just started a new job at one of the most prestigious digital marketing firms in town. It was a job that I was slightly under-qualified for since the subject matter – SEO – was more or less brand new to me, and I knew going in that it was going to be very much “learn-as-you-go” (and I was up for it!)

But I was determined to prove myself and that I was “good enough” to be there.

…This was my first mistake.

So I went to work every day, and put the pressure on myself to do more, learn more, and deliver flawless work. I was stressed, but it was okay. (Or so I thought).

Then, one morning, about one month into my new job, I woke up to find that my entire right arm was numb, which was strange. I shook my arm around, trying to shake off the feeling, but it didn’t go away. Then I felt the numbness travel up and down the entire right side of my body. Also strange. Soon, nausea hit. I called my mom, and as we spoke on the phone, I began to struggle to put together words. I texted my friend who lived nearby (with great difficulty), and she drove me to the E.R.

Long story short: for the first time in my life I had a migraine. Specifically a hemiplegic migraine, which is incredibly painful and debilitating. And even worse… I continued to get them on and off for the next month. And then after that month – never again.

Why did they stop? Well, I can’t tell you for sure, but I can tell you what I did. I realized that my work stress (in addition to a new office environment with harsh fluorescent lighting) was largely to blame for these episodes. I changed my seat to sit near a window to increase natural light, and I cut myself a break at work, which is way, way easier to say, than do.

In this case, I realized that chronic self-induced stress, as well as a few external, environmental conditions were what was causing my physical ailment.

Now I hope this exact thing NEVER happens to you, but I do hope that you can glean some insight from my experiences. If something is wrong in your body as a result of anxiety and stress, cut yourself a break. Give yourself permission to not be perfect. It’s okay.

Trust me.

4. Major events & tragedies

While all anxiety triggers are hard to deal with, major life events and tragedies are probably the toughest, since the path to healing isn’t cut and dry, or predictable in the slightest.

In any case, the best thing you can do, as hard as it may be, is to let yourself feel the feelings that you’re feeling. It’s not healthy to push feelings down and “suck it up,” which creates severe emotional stress.

Chronic emotional stress is hard on your health – it elevates blood pressure and heart rate, and can cause inflammation of the body, which can raise chances of heart attack or stroke.

To minimize the effects of long-term stress from life-changing events, find healthy mechanisms to cope with stress that work for you. Examples:

• Find and rely on your support group (friends and family)
• Talk things out
• Exercise
• Taking personal time
• Find a sense of purpose (if you don’t have one yet), to keep you moving forward

Thinking positively and finding a sense of purpose can lower anxiety levels from stressful events and decrease heart disease risk.

Anxiety has the potential to affect your mind and body way more than you may realize. If any of the above stressors are taking root in your life, use these strategies to help cut them off and minimize their effects.

Want to talk more about anxiety and stress? Shoot me an email any time at poisedandprofessionalblog@gmail.com – It’s okay to get help (even though to reiterate – I am not a doctor or medical professional), but I am here for you and will help you develop positive anxiety coping methods as much as I can.