Anxiety Counseling: 3 Common Issues Empower Counseling in Birmingham, Alabama can help solve.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a perfectionist? Do you have any symptoms of anxiety? What if you are not sure?
Research has linked perfectionism and anxiety. Perfectionists tend to have unrealistic expectations for themselves. When these expectations are not met, perfectionists experience increased anxiety, dissatisfaction and difficulty coping. As a licensed counselor specializing in treating clients with perfectionism and anxiety, I see several issues that are common among most perfectionists. If you are experiencing any of these issues, Empower Counseling understands what you are going through and we know how to help. As a recovering perfectionist, I not only have experience helping many clients move away from their perfectionism and closer to satisfying, enjoyable lives, I know how perfectionists think.
Today, I am going to sahre with you some of the most common issues that challenge perfectionists, cause anxiety, and get in the way of you enjoying your life to the fullest.
Issue #1: Anxiety Counseling can help If you are Having the thought “I must reach my potential”
I see clients all the time who report having this thought. Why is it such an issue? Don’t we all want to live up to our potential?
The reason having this thought causes such problems for perfectionists is the term “potential” can not be measured. How do you know when you have done enough and reached your potential? You don’t. You can’t. SO perfectionists are striving toward a goal that can never be reached. If you are striving to reach and unreachable goal, you will necessarily fall short. When perfectionists fall short, we see this as a complete failure. I won’t go in to detail with all of the problems that stem from seeing oneself as a failure. There are many, though.
At Empower Counseling, through Acceptance Commitment Therapy, we will help you move away from unrealistic expectations that leave you feeling like a failure and toward high, but obtainable, measurable goals. This shift will have you feeling a great deal of accomplishment and satisfaction.
Issue #2: Having the thought, “I must always be productive.”
Almost every perfectionist who has ever stepped foot in my office, shares this thought. Actually, this thought of “I must always be productive” is closely tied to the thought “I must reach my potential”.
If you have either of these thoughts, it is difficult to ever fully and completely let yourself relax. In fact, if you can never fully relax, you are probably living your life always barely hanging on to the end of your rope. If even the smallest irritations, set you off, then you know what I am talking about…you are already there. At Empower Counseling we know how to identify the thoughts and beliefs that are causing your problems. We can help you move away from rigid “all or nothing” thoughts like this, which moves you away from perfectionism and anxiety.
Issue #3: Overscheduling.
Do you tend to keep putting more on your plate without ever taking anything else off? Part of the reason is the though “I must live up to my potential”, (I told you there were many issues associate with this one unhelpful thought). Overscheduling is also a result of the thought “I must be always productive”. These two thoughts contribute to the behavior of always trying to fit one more thing into your schedule. Overscheduling and keeping a frantic pace causes anxiety. It is not just your thoughts and it is not just your behaviors which contribute to anxiety. The pace you keep is a huge contributor to how stressed out you feel.
At Empower Counseling our ACT trained counselors will help you uncover all of the thoughts you are having that are unhelpful to you having the life you want. Then we will teach you mindfulness to let go of these thoughts. We will look at your habits and behaviors to see which ones are helpful to you and which ones are not. Then we will help you create new habits and behaviors that will take you toward the life you want.
Reach out to Kathryn, Adam, or Kristine today and make your first appointment. You will be one step closer to the life you want, a life filled with enjoyment, fulfillment, and satisfaction.
We are accepting new clients for teen counseling, counseling for college students, young adult counseling, and counseling for professionals. We specialize in anxiety counseling, counseling for depression, difficult life transitions, and Adam also specializes in addiction counseling.