Three Reasons Anxiety Strikes

Anxiety has a bad reputation. It can be a negative emotion that instills fear and dread in every waking moment. Left unchecked, anxiety can stand in the way of accomplishments, relationships, experiences and overall life happiness. Before you can fight back against anxiety, it's important to see just where it comes from. It's not just a personality flaw. Anxiety can be fueled both internally and externally. You can start tracking your emotions today by purchasing the Happier Mind Journal. 

1. Society expects success, regardless of the goal. The Internet, social media and even the people in your world broadcast wonderful achievements and anything less can seem like failure. If you place your ego in the hands of outsiders or measure your success against the success of someone else, you are definitely at risk for an anxiety episode.

2. You expect instant gratification. It's easy to dream your dream and envision a wonderful outcome. It can be defeating to face that first failure. If the failures mount up quickly, your anxiety level will mount twice as rapidly. If you don't understand the powerful learning experience that comes with failure, you are likely to internalize the mistakes and wrong turns as personal deficiencies instead of vital building blocks to ultimate success.

3. If you do not properly prepare yourself for whatever goal you are trying to achieve, you are already starting out at a disadvantage. You have to invest in yourself first before you can feel secure in your efforts. Society is more likely to show the end results of success than the struggle to get there. Recognizing the dues you will have to pay will help put anxiety in perspective.

Anxiety can be a powerful motivator or a paralyzing roadblock. It's all in how you embrace the experience. Anxiety, at some level, is a universal emotion. Everyone faces it, but not everyone faces it in the same way. It can rule you or you can take control of it and use it to your advantage.

Want to easy the pain of anxiety? You need to first understand what's causing it. Download and print our free MONTHLY HAPPINESS AUDIT.