These symptoms may sound familiar to you…

• An overwhelming sense of doom washing over you, especially first thing in the morning

• Replaying situations over and over if your mind so it’s difficult to focus on the present moment

• Overwhelming and, what feels like, constant worry about the future, usually defined by ‘what if…’

• Unwanted, repetitive or irrational thoughts that draw your attention inwards

• Finding that you are not able to enjoy the things you used to enjoy

• Avoiding situations or people that you think will trigger anxiety or new situations

• Trouble concentrating, brain fog and memory slips

• Compulsive behaviour, such as constantly checking things

• Low self-confidence and self-belief

• Difficulty moving into a rested state

• A major life change or transition/s – these changes don’t even need to have been negative, they could have felt positive at the time

• Sensory and environment overload – when we receive more sensory input than our brain can process, our nervous system can easily be pushed into overload – triggering intense anxiety and activating our fight flight

• Our stress bucket overflows – the bucket represents our personal coping capacity, it doesn’t take much for this to begin overflowing, and when we are caught up in it, it can take us a while to recognise what’s happened, before we know it anxiety is triggered

• Values misalignment (and/or relationship friction) –

• Past challenges that are having a delayed relation or have been triggered – our bodies are remarkable good at getting us through hard things, meaning we can hold it together during a crisis, and so when we our out of our flight fight window, anxiety make strike because our bodies finally feel safe enough to feel. Alternatively, we could find ourselves in an environment that triggers and re-surfaces our past that still needs attention and healing. Read more here.