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Anxiety and Avoidance - Breaking the Cycle

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What Is Burnout?

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Simple Ways to Sleep Better

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The Stress Bucket

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When Money's Causing Stress

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Managing Workplace Stress

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Anxiety and Avoidance - Breaking the Cycle

First tip Every time we avoid something because of anxiety, we send our brain a message: "that thing really was dangerous." And so the anxiety around it grows.
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How the Avoidance Cycle Works
  • Something triggers anxiety - a situation, a thought, a feeling
  • The anxiety feels uncomfortable or threatening
  • You avoid the situation to get relief
  • Relief comes - briefly
  • The next time the situation comes up, the anxiety is a little bigger
  • The avoidance becomes a little more automatic

Over time, the world that feels safe gets smaller and smaller. And the anxiety gets louder.

What Avoidance Can Look Like

Avoidance isn't always obvious. It can be physically avoiding places, putting off decisions, seeking constant reassurance, or distraction - scrolling, overworking, keeping busy...

Breaking the Cycle - Gradually

The key is gradual, repeated exposure - facing the thing that triggers anxiety in small, manageable steps. Each time you face something and discover you survived it, your brain updates its threat assessment...

How to Start

1. Identify one thing you've been avoiding. 2. Break it into the smallest possible steps. 3. Face the smallest step, and stay until the anxiety reduces...

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What Is Burnout?

First tip Burnout isn't just being tired. It's what happens when stress has nowhere to go for too long - and it builds gradually, often before you notice it.

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Written by a Registered Psychologist
Clinically authored and reviewed
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Every resource on this platform is clinically authored and reviewed by Nic Marcon, Registered Psychologist, before publication. Tools for the Tough Days is for adults 18 and over.
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