Anxiety and Motivation

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But I was able to turn things around.

If you’ve ever seen in the movies one of the old water pumps that were used many years ago where one literally pumps a handle up and down to get water from the well you might be familiar enough with this analogy for it to make sense.  Often what happens is that in order to extract water from the well one needs to pump the handle several times before any water begins to flow.  This is called priming the pump.  This absolutely applies to human behaviour. 

You see even though I have not been 100% motivated lately, once I began to push myself to do the other things that were on my “to do” list I often would find the energy and motivation.  This “transformation” did not take place as soon as I started to take action but the more I “got into a groove” or “on a roll” the more smoothly things began to flow.  This is exactly like the “priming the pump” analogy.

The old adage that action creates motivation certainly rings true.  I was further thinking about how a variation of this concept relates to one’s recovery from anxiety and panic attacks. 

What I mean is that by taking action and restructuring your thinking and doing the exercises / techniques that have been shared throughout the newsletter you are “priming the pump” so to speak with respect to your recovery.  The more and more you consistently practice these techniques, the more you prime the pump with your new alternative ways of thinking that can have a dramatically good effect on your emotions.

Here are some tips on how best to “prime the pump” and utilize the recovery techniques and activities suggested throughout this newsletter:

The first step involves committing to a change with respect to your negative thoughts / behaviours.

Change takes time.  You might proceed slowly but steadily which can result in success. Small, consistent, changes over time will allow you to ease into a newer and healthier way of thinking.

Setting small realistic goals each week gives you time to adjust to the new way of thinking.

Keep a log of your feelings and thoughts.

Schedule time for your practice of techniques – treat this time very seriously as you would say with a doctor’s appointment.

Celebrate small successes and don’t be too hard on yourself if you stray.