Anxiety doesn’t have to run your life. Really.

Fear is the normal physiological reaction to an imminent threat or danger. Anxiety is a response to a threat that is unknown (the next COVID variant), anticipated (an upcoming presentation or social event), or imagined (if I am not perfect they will find out I am a fraud). Anxiety can take us down a rabbit hole of disaster thinking and what-if scenarios, decreasing our ability to think clearly and make good decisions.

All of us have at our core a part that is good and whole, no matter where we have been, what we have been through, or how fatally flawed we feel.

Unlike the fear response, which calms when the danger is past, anxiety can become a habitual response that becomes hardwired into our nervous systems. It is exhausting and can affect our relationships, career choices, and physical health. And maybe most important, anxiety makes it harder for us to connect to the extraordinary intelligence of our hearts and to bring our authentic selves to life.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.