Anxiety - Resisting Growth

I am often at my least productive when there is a long to do list, it's Monday and it is a struggle to find a rhythm.

Perhaps the idea of a weekend is to break the working rhythm. However Monday certainly fuels anxiety for me.

I can start by revising my time management skills.

Einstein famously said

So perhaps finding an answer about an anxiety-related question from an anxious place, we only create more anxiety.

Sheryl Paul in her book "The Wisdom of Anxiety - how worry and intrusive thoughts are gifts to help you heal"

Sheryl identifies the word "should" - expectations of happiness and a society that compares as being culprits for anxiety.

The reference to "should"

As soon as I hear a "should statement" I know that a client is suffering, from an externally imposed expectation and is inevitably comparing her or himself to a cultural ideal of good or "right" behaviour, which then increases anxiety. pg. 41

There in lies the Monday anxiety killer - find a moment of flow - pick a task that "embeds" and engrosses you.

For me it is a programming task, suddenly the list vanishes and all that matters is this coding problem to solve.

Then out trots the perfectionist, with any interruption to the embedded "wired" attachment to the task being a major irritant - think "As Good as it Gets" with Jack Nicholson

Enough about me - how about you - what do you think of me?

Marriage Counselling

Gold Coast based Marriage Counsellor Jiselle Saraghi has the following questions-:

How does the DREAM turn into a SCREAM?
Why do we end up in conflict with the one we love?
How can something that started out so good end up so bad?

Could the answer lie in the cultural expectations Sheryl Paul mentions, the "should statements"? I should be happy, we should have had this or that.

It could be anxiety, clearly if we can wrestle with the trivia of a work day, the combination of two people's expectations in a marriage may be even harder to master.

Counselling may help you deal with anxiety or depression. (amongst many other issues)