Setting Goals Helps My Anxiety

With anxiety, I often feel as though I don't have a handle on my circumstances and surroundings. This sense of a lack of control over my environment causes my anxiety to jump into overdrive, to the point that I can't stop my racing or intrusive thoughts. One of the things I've found helpful is to have something to focus on.

To settle my anxiety, setting goals is helpful. When I am talking about setting goals, I'm not only talking about setting long-term goals for the future, although these are also helpful for providing me with structure and a path to follow. I'm also referring to short-term goals. Short-term goals, even daily goals, can lessen any anxiety I am experiencing throughout the day.

The Reasons Setting Goals Is Helpful for My Anxiety

I have now found that creating a daily schedule, making lists, and using my calendar for goals are helpful for my anxiety. I've found that it is helpful because:

1. It helps me feel a sense of control. One of the most challenging aspects of anxiety is the sense of a loss of control. When I don't have a sense of control, I usually find that this causes me to feel anxious. On the other hand, when I am feeling anxious, I will also often feel as though I don't have control over my environment. So, unfortunately, this can cause a cycle of feeling anxious and not feeling in control of things. But, when I have a goal in front of me, this can help reduce the feelings of chaos that leave me feeling anxious.
2. It helps to have something to focus on. Anxiety often makes it difficult to focus, as my mind is preoccupied with worries about future events or thoughts about the past. If I focus on a goal, however, this can help draw my attention to the here and now without my thoughts straying to the past or the future.
3. It helps me direct my energy. With anxiety, I may feel on edge and agitated. This is one of the reasons that exercise is often very helpful when I am anxious. However, when I focus on goals, this also helps to direct my energy in a specific direction, which reduces the edginess and agitation that I feel.
4. When I do accomplish a goal, it increases my self-confidence. Struggling with my self-esteem has gone hand-in-hand with my anxiety for as long as I can remember. Since I was young, I've always strived toward these high, perfectionist standards that I set for myself. The problem with these standards is that they are often unrealistic and unreachable. So, when I can't reach them, I feel inadequate, and it is difficult for my self-esteem. However, setting realistic goals that I can accomplish helps to increase my confidence when I do accomplish them.

Check out my video below on goal-setting and how this is helpful for my anxiety.

Do you set goals to help your anxiety? If so, share your strategies for setting goals in the comments below.