3 Barriers Keeping You Stuck in Anxiety

Are there obstacles keeping you trapped in a cycle of anxiety that you’ve never considered before? Of course, there are! We all self-sabotage even when we’re motivated to change.

Today we’re going to talk about three barriers keeping you stuck in anxiety.

I’m Angela Howard, my passion is to break the stigma of mental illness among fellow Christians. I’m here to help you live a more purposeful life with God, and with one another. Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get the first updates of new content.

When my son Ben was about 13 we asked him to go outside and pick up after the dog. A couple minutes later I looked outside and noticed that Ben was hopping on one foot, wearing only one shoe, trying to accomplish this task. Apparently, he didn’t want to take time to put on his other shoe and thought this would work just fine. Obviously, it didn’t. It was hysterical watching him try to balance on one foot while bent over, hopping around the yard.

It’s easy to look at someone else’s life and notice the barriers that are keeping them stuck, but far more difficult to see those barriers for ourselves. So let’s look at…

3 Barriers Keeping You Stuck in Anxiety

Fear that change is impossible. Maybe you’ve tried and failed so many times before that you’re hanging onto the false belief that anxiety will always be a part of your life. The truth is that God created our brains to have the ability to reorganize and form new connections throughout our lifetimes. This is called neuroplasticity. I’ll put some links in the notes below so that you can get more information on how it works.
Forming your identity around anxiety. This is so easy to do. Sometimes it’s as simple as the language we use. Do you say, “I struggle with anxiety” or do you say “My anxiety…” Our identity should not be based on temporary things such as our roles, our jobs, or our struggles. Our true identities can be found as children of God.
Solely focusing on the symptoms. It’s natural to want to zero in on the symptoms because they can be debilitating. But anxiety symptoms are just an indication of the problem—not the problem themselves. Just dealing with the symptoms may lead you into a cycle of repeated episodes that will leave you feeling defeated. Getting to the core of the anxiety is much more effective for long-term treatment.

Please be assured that nothing I’ve said means that you can just try harder not to have anxiety. It’s a complex issue and it’s important to come at it from a lot of different angles.

Scripture:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith… Galatians 3:26 (NIV)

Question:

What are barriers keeping you stuck? Comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

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