Perhaps Anxiety can be our guide, teaching us when our buckets overflow.

The way to recovery for me was a shift of perception. On how I viewed my anxiety. What helped me was seeing my life in a bucket, filled with stresses and worry and responsibility. This full bucket was causing me to be unsettled. Not necessarily anxious but not at peace either.

At my most difficult time, when I was suffering from daily anxiety, my bucket was overflowing. I had reached my stress threshold and my bucket couldn’t hold anymore. The overflowing bucket was causing all the difficult anxiety symptoms. It’s when we don’t see this, overlook the cause and focus on that flowing anxiety, that keeps it alive and makes us feel stuck in a vicious cycle.

There are two things that keep the bucket flowing. The fear of the flow (symptoms) and whatever filled the bucket in the first place. When we try to ‘get rid’ of the anxiety with lots of bandaid options out there, then it may stop the bucket flowing for a bit, but it keeps us on edge that it’ll flow again. We all have a stress threshold and some reach theirs quicker than others.

Some lucky people never reach it and can handle a high level of stress with no issues! It’s different for everyone but when that point of stress is reached, that’s our wake up call. And it may not be running around/responsibility/work type of stress. It’s usually emotional stress, personal baggage, worrying about things that are not in your control, being concerned about how people see you, comparing yourself to others. These are sure fire ways to fill that bucket right up, when these days life is such that it’s already half full! We can look at anxiety as our teacher, shaking us by the shoulders to take stock of what we’re carrying and to take care of ourselves. It may mean to slow down or speak to a professional or challenge our thought pattern.

Rather than fear what is happening, we could see this as a guide of what NOT to do, or what NOT to think. The problem is that most people only focus on the anxiety and either fear it or fight it thus keeping that flow. Once there is an acceptance of what’s happening, we have the first step to stopping that flow, working on what’s in that bucket, and clearing it out for long term recovery 🌺