We all experience anxiety at times in our lives, perhaps before a job interview or something more serious. But for a great many people, anxiety is something they live with daily. It colours every part of their lives.
Anxiety can feel like ongoing fear. A constant awareness of how things could go wrong; ranging from a small issue of being on time for an event to worrying about losing our loved ones when they walk out the door in the morning.
Our perception of life is created in childhood. It is then that we learn whether we need to be on guard all the time or whether we can trust in life. If your childhood experience lacked security and consistency, it is understandable that you may have developed a behaviour of worrying and pre-empting, as a protective measure to yourself.
Anxiety can also be a learned behaviour; a learned way of perceiving the world, picked up from a parent, perhaps.
Anxiety can also be triggered by a traumatic event or a loss/bereavement.
When we suffer trauma or bereavement or loss/change of a large proportion, we lose trust in life, giving us a more acute awareness of the potential for things going wrong.
All bereavement and loss is followed by a period of grieving (whether acknowledged or not), where our trust in life is not what it was, but for some this trust is never restored causing anxiety that wasn’t there before.
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today
of its strength.
Charles Spurgeon
At Counselling Carlow you will be provided with a space where you can talk about how anxiety is impacting on your life. You will have the opportunity to explore the roots of your anxiety, if that is important to you.
At Counselling Carlow, your counselling experience will be one of understanding, patience and acceptance.