A lot of people have high expectations for themselves and when we fall short, as we are all bound to do, we beat ourselves up about it and are extra hard on ourselves.  

Our world is full of overachievers and that can be good but it can also exact a tremendous toll on our mental health. No one is perfect, no one can do everything and no one can please everyone. 

These are nice goals but impossible to achieve and if you believe they can be achieved that mistaken belief is contributing to your anxiety. Success is not everything and many of us need to remind ourselves of that. 

Many overachievers also have trouble with the word no. In an effort to please everyone and do everything, they don´t say no to unreasonable demands or impossible timetables to complete assignments. They simply say yes and work themselves to the bone to try to keep their word. 

They become exhausted, stressed and under enormous strain and when they fail to meet their bosses´ expectations and he or she is disappointed, they are crushed, mortified and in abject despair. Does any of this sound familiar? 

This type of situation can lead to social phobia, where you have problems dealing with crowds, authority figures and social interactions. This phobia also has the ability to easily snowball to the point where you are avoiding any type of crowded place, even the grocery store because it sparks panic or anxiety.

Our society is so goal and achievement oriented that too many of us get lost or trampled by the climb to the top. If you feel like you are responsible for everyone around you, if you have to take care of everything, if you have to do everything, then it´s time to take a breath. 

Slow down, set boundaries for yourself, have others set realistic demands for your performance and stop saying yes to everyone and start taking care of yourself. It will help to come up with some affirming or positive thoughts as you work through the day encountering these stress provoking situations.   

Here are some examples of affirming or positive statements that you can use throughout the day. They help you with self esteem, interpersonal interactions and your own harsh critiques.

It´s important to create your own statements as well, depending on your particular circumstances.

1. I am beautiful and capable

2. I have accomplished a lot today

3. I can say no and people will still like me

4. I can manage my workload

5. I work hard and get things done

These are encouraging statements that help your inner self feel more self assured, more nurtured and more in control. These are just generic statements; you can craft your own statements so they specifically address your needs.

Simply repeating these statements whenever you feel an uncomfortable surge of adrenalin coming on will help you temper your anxiety. 

Anxiety and panic attacks are just reactions to uncomfortable stimuli. Reduce the discomfort and ease your mind and live your life unaffected by your anxiety.

Download your free eBook “Stop Panic Attacks and Deal with Your Anxious Thoughts” here: http://www.PanicGoodbye.com/freereport.html

Beginners to exposure therapy and Positive-Thought-Redirection™ need to prepare a list of the most common anxious thoughts or images that pop into your mind. You then need to put a positive spin on these thoughts and redirect your thinking away from the anxious ideas.

If you prepare ahead of time you´ll have a cheat sheet to help you when confronted with unwanted, anxious thoughts and the need to perform compulsions. For example: 

1. Instead of “oh my god, I hit someone with my car”, tell yourself “if I had hit someone I would have felt something and since I didn´t, everything is okay”. 

2. Instead of “this meat has a small discolored spot, it must be poison”, tell yourself “the meat was freshly purchased at the supermarket and is not over its expiration date, everything is fine”.   

3. Instead of  “I can´t touch the counter until it has been scrubbed clean again” tell yourself, “I cleaned the counter this morning, it is germ free and fine for me to touch this afternoon”.

4. Instead of “the doors to the house are unlocked and someone is going to break in and rob us and kill my family”, tell yourself “I checked the doors and windows and the security system is on, everyone is safe and I am safe and my neighborhood is safe, everyone will still be fine in the morning”.

As you begin to redirect your thoughts away from dwelling on the negative, you will find more and more positive reassurances to help sooth your mind. This isn´t a quick fix or a one-time fix; you have to constantly work on redirecting your mind to focusing on what you have done to prevent your worst fears from coming true. 

As you retrain your mind, you will realize that in fact, your worst fears aren´t coming true and not performing the compulsions has not brought harm, death or destruction to anyone or anything.  

Now that you are armed with positive thoughts to redirect your mind to, the key is stopping the thought once it pops up in your mind. You don´t need to stop the thought from ever entering your mind; you just need to avoid having it take over your mind and drive you towards performing your ritualistic compulsions. 

Download your free eBook “Stop Panic Attacks and Deal with Your Anxious Thoughts” here: http://www.PanicGoodbye.com/freereport.html

While prescription drugs certainly have their merits and are an important option to be considered, especially in acute cases, drugs do have side effects. You can use cognitive behavior therapy to both control the symptoms and reduce the anxiety, obviating the need to perform soothing anxiety reducing rituals.   

Cognitive behavior therapy is a great way to address, confront and combat the obsessions and compulsions taking hold of your life. The basis of this approach is to try to reduce the immense and exaggerated catastrophic thinking that is fueling the anxiety that is the basis for both the obsessions and compulsions. 

Did you run someone over with your car? Better keep checking that rearview mirror!  What is that in the road? I better pull over and get out and look behind me!  It felt like something hit my car or I hit something? The thoughts just keep racing, unbidden and unwanted through your mind. As the thoughts continue to run through your mind, the anxiety only increases. 

The only way to soothe those feelings is to check the rearview mirror and keep checking it every time the negative thoughts cycle through again. You need to retrace your route 1, 2, 3 times or more just to ensure you didn’t hit anything. 

Cognitive behavior therapy or CBT is a good way to confront OCD. This process involves retraining the thoughts and routines of your life so that you no longer need to perform compulsive rituals to keep your world in order and the fears at bay. 

By using exposure and response prevention, an important component of this approach, you will gradually expose yourself to the things you fear and learn ways to deal with it without using compulsive responses. 

Behavior modification is always an important tool when dealing with anxiety based conditions. By using exposure and response prevention, you are exposing yourself to situations that stir up the obsessive thoughts and then preventing yourself from engaging in compulsive behaviors. 

If you are worried about germ infested door handles then you would have to touch one you considered dirty and gradually reduce the number of times you would wash your hands after such contact until you can refrain from the behavior.

Now, this approach is a lot easier on paper then it is in practice. Refraining from compulsions is extremely difficult. Therefore, you will probably need outside help from a spouse, family member or friend to help you control the compulsions.

Before you can do this though, you need to tell your family what´s been going on. They probably already know that something isn´t right and they are probably worried it´s something even worse than what you is about to tell them. 

Once the obsessions and compulsions are out in the open, your family can help to modify your behavior. The goal for you will be to gradually reduce the number of times that you check and recheck.

Now your compulsions won´t disappear until you address the anxious thoughts that are causing the compulsions. Curing the anxious thoughts requires training the brain to see the positive, not the negative. This is easier said then done but Positive thought redirection is a good place to start. 

Positive thought direction entails redirecting the negative thoughts that crop up to more positive ones. It is a process of training your brain to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. It is a technique that requires both practice and discipline but it also very effective in helping to reduce negative thoughts, doubts and fears. 

Download your free eBook “Stop Panic Attacks and Deal with Your Anxious Thoughts” here: http://www.PanicGoodbye.com/freereport.html

Once the unnecessary, negative or burdensome thought is stopped, you then redirect your mind to a more positive thought about the situation you are confronting.

The process of redirecting your thoughts is an important component of successfully using this process. However, especially at the spur of the moment and under pressure from the potential anxiety you are facing, it is hard to redirect your thoughts to a more positive framework because you can´t think of anything positive. 

As a beginner, it is important to create a list of positive thoughts that you can use for redirection. Jot down a list and refer to this list as need be. By doing the thinking before hand, you don´t have to face the pressure in the midst of an anxious moment. 

Here are some examples of positive thoughts that you can use for redirection: 

1. I have been anxious before and have survived or succeeded (depending on the situation)
2. I am confident I can control my anxiety with the techniques I have learned. 
3. I will have a great time at ….. (insert occasion)
4. I am with my (safe person) and they will help me if I have any problems

This is just the beginning of the list that you will create. The important thing is to focus on the positives and not dwell on the negatives. Rather than thinking how crowded and miserable you will be at the theater and how you will probably run screaming from the show hyperventilating, think about the last time you went to see a show and had a good time or the last time you were in a crowded place and smiled. 

Now that you are armed with positive thoughts to redirect your mind to, the key is stopping the thought once it pops up in your mind. You don´t need to stop the thought from ever entering your mind; you just need to avoid having it take over your mind. 

Once the unwanted thought appears, consciously tell yourself to STOP! Once you have firmly told the thought to stop you then use your handy little list to redirect your mind to a more positive state. 

This may sound hokey to some but engaging your mind in actively combating your negative or detrimental thoughts actually works. The key, like many of the techniques described above is practice. Practicing this process will not only improve your ability to engage in positive thought redirection but it will also give you greater self confidence that you can survive anxiety ridden situations. Confidence is half the battle in dealing with anxiety. 

Practicing the Positive-Thought-Redirection technique involves thinking about stressful subjects or situations. Envision yourself in a place where you are a stressed, at a time when you are very anxious. Let the feelings overtake you for a couple of minutes and then use your STOP command to stop those thoughts in their tracks.

Let your mind go blank, if the negativity crops up, issue your stop command again. Once your mind is clear, use your positive thoughts to redirect your mind. Start by saying your redirected thoughts aloud. This will help to reinforce them.

As you practice and become better at this technique, you won´t have to be as purposeful about it, you will be able to do it quickly, in your mind, without referring to lists or speaking aloud.

Download your free eBook “Stop Panic Attacks and Deal with Your Anxious Thoughts” here: http://www.PanicGoodbye.com/freereport.html