What Do the Small Steps - AKA Taking Healthy Action In Anxiety Recovery Look Like?
- Shannon Jackson
- Feb 11, 2024
- 4 min read
You might be used to hearing me talk about the importance of taking healthy action by now… but have you ever wondered, “Shannon, what the heck does healthy action even look like?”. If so, you’re going to love this episode! We’re going to talk about what healthy action looks like, and how it leads to healing from anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia.
Before we get started, I want to mention something super important. I often see people getting stuck on this part of anxiety recovery, so we need to talk about it! When we're working to recover, we're often looking for the big things that will help us to get there. Like we convince ourselves... I'm missing something... If I can just find that thing! And sometimes it's not just the big things, but we're often just seeking out the ONE thing that will do it. For example, once I find the medication that will help me, or once I find the tool that will work, or once I find the book that will unlock everything for me, or once I find the therapist or coach that will fix me.
And don't get me wrong, medication, tools, therapists, coaches, these are all super helpful, and they can help to support you along your recovery journey. But the truth and the reality is, YOU are the one who is going to take the action and heal from anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Not a medication, not a tool, not a book or anyone else. And I know this is a little tricky, because I know it feels like it puts a lot of the healing on you. But once you really accept that you are what's going to lead you to the healing that you so badly are working towards and want, it really changes so much, and actually starts to make things a whole heck of a lot easier.
And since I believe healthy action is essential, I thought this would be the perfect time to share some healthy steps you can start taking to recover from anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. So let’s get into it!
8 Small, Healthy Steps for Anxiety Recovery
1. Define your why
Knowing why you want to recover from anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia is absolutely essential. Having a why helps us remember why we’re taking healthy action, even when things get hard. It reminds us of what lies on the other side of healthy action, and it’s an amazing place to start!
2. Relieving stress can simply be moving your body
And it doesn’t have to be anything crazy! Take a quick walk, stretch, or do whatever you can to move your body. Even the smallest amount of movement can work wonders for stress relief!
3. Consider natural supplements or supportive remedies
I love caffeine-free teas! They can really help to reduce stress and just make you feel a bit calmer. Magnesium supplements can be great as well! I share some of my favorites on my Amazon Storefront.
*If you have any questions regarding supplements please make sure to consult a healthcare professional.
4. Set boundaries and stick to them
Even setting boundaries with yourself is important! Whether it’s a boundary about work, family, or friends, setting boundaries can really help to decrease stress levels.
5. Consider your relationship with social media
Personally, I love taking an inventory of my social media to make sure I’m only interacting with accounts that bring me joy. Taking intentional time away from your phone and social media can also be incredibly helpful!
6. Carve out 10-15 minutes of your day to face something that you've been avoiding
Or spend that time doing something that scares you! Facing your fears and doing the things that scare you is how you start to push past the things that are leading to the anxiety, symptoms, panic, and fears. Building this habit is a great way to take healthy action each day!
7. Ask for support
When you're struggling with an anxiety disorder, you often convince yourself that you can’t ask for support. Because if you do, it might mean that you're needy, weak, dependent, incapable, or that you're seeking reassurance. But the truth is, we all need support. We are all deserving and worthy of support. You do not have to recover from anxiety alone!
8. Do one thing that you enjoy every day
I know this one might sound silly, but it's so powerful. Just because you're working to recover doesn't mean that you should stop living, right? Right! So it can be something super simple. Maybe for you it's knitting or crocheting, or singing, or dancing, or watching something that you really like, or calling a friend, or taking a walk outside. Just setting aside even 10 minutes each day (and being consistent with it) goes a long way! Remember, recovery happens while you're living. If you try to hit pause on finding happiness and joy until you've recovered, recovery is going to be a whole lot less likely to happen.
I hope you enjoyed hearing a few of my tips for some small steps you can start taking each day! Although they might sound small, taking healthy action each day can lead to lasting anxiety recovery. And if you’re looking for some extra support through your anxiety recovery journey, make sure to check out my super helpful masterclasses and my 10-week program, Panic to Peace, where I guide and support you through your journey to more peace, joy, and freedom!
And if you want to hear more on taking healthy action, make sure to listen to the full podcast episode for even more goodness!
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to a healthy push Podcast. I'm Shannon Jackson, former anxiety sufferer turned adventure mom and anxiety recovery coach. I struggled with anxiety, panic disorder and agoraphobia for 15 years. And now I help people to push past the stuff that I used to struggle with. Each week, I'll be sharing real and honest conversations along with actionable and practical steps that you can take to help you push past your anxious thoughts, the symptoms, panic and fears. Welcome. You're right, we're meant to be.
Okay, what do the small steps aka taking healthy action actually look like? So you know how I say at the end of every episode, keep taking healthy action? Well, it's because there is so much power in consistently taking small steps. It's truly in the small steps that the healing happens. So in this episode, I'm going to dive in, and I'm going to share some small, healthy and practical steps that you can take that will help you to create that healthy relationship with anxiety. But first, I want to talk about something really important, because it's an area that we can get caught up in and become really stuck. So when we're working to recover, we're often looking for the big things that will help us to get there. Like we convinced ourselves, I'm missing something if I can just find that thing. And sometimes it's not just the big things, but we're often just seeking out the one thing that will do it. For example, once I find the medication that will help me or once I find the tool that will work or once I find the book that will unlock everything for me, or once I find the therapist or coach that will fix me. And don't get me wrong, medication, tools, therapists, coaches, these are all super helpful, and they can help to support you along your recovery journey. But the truth and the reality is, you are the one who is going to take the action and heal from anxiety, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Not a medication, not a tool, not a book or anyone else. And I know this is a little tricky, because I know it feels like it puts a lot of the healing on you. But once you really accept that you are what's going to lead you to the healing that you so badly are working towards and want, it really changes so much, and actually starts to make things a whole heck of a lot easier. You know, one of the most pivotal points for me, and my own recovery journey was when I realized that I had wasted so much time searching for and waiting for something like I had been searching for or waiting for the right medication or tool or therapist or book or piece of information. And I was just searching, I was searching, I was waiting, I was looking and I wasn't doing, I wasn't taking the healthy action. And I fell into this trap over and over again. I felt so desperate and tired and sick of struggling. And I would think there has to be something that I missing, there has to be something that will work that I haven't yet tried. And doing this kept me stuck for so long searching and looking for and waiting, you know, I would say so often I would do anything, I will do anything to recover. But there is so much I wasn't doing because I was hoping one thing would come along and fix it all for me. I wasn't taking a lot of the healthy steps I knew I had to take mostly because I knew it'd be hard to. And I just wasn't being honest with myself. You know, I remember one of the hardest parts of my journey was actually accepting that I was part of the problem. And there wasn't one solution or tool and I really had to stop searching for it and waiting for something. Instead, I really had to start taking all of the little healthy actions that would help me to reach my goals and live that life that I wanted to live. So I want you to recognize clarity truly comes in taking action, you're not going to get it and searching and seeking or waiting. The searching, seeking and waiting takes our focus off of the action that's actually going to help us to get to where we want to be. And I know I'm sorry to disappoint you, right. But recovery truly happens when you consistently take small healthiest steps. Because the reality is that what you're struggling with is something that's probably been reinforced over months or probably even over years, maybe even decades. So it's simply unrealistic to think that there's one tool or person that's going to come along and undo all of the unhealthy pathways that have been created in your brain since you began struggling. It's really in the small, consistent, healthy actions. So let's talk about some small steps that you can start taking that will support your recovery. Okay, this first one is one of my favorites and it's actually one of the first steps I have my clients and my panic to peace Students do along with setting specific goals. And it's that I ask them to define their why, like, why are you working to recover? And I know this sounds a bit silly. But I want you to ask yourself this question right now. Why am I working to recover? Why am I doing this work? Why am I fighting so hard? And I want you to do this. Because knowing and reminding yourself of your why will help to keep you pushing yourself even when things get hard, when you can actually create and stand behind a why, like, why am I doing this? You know, when you think about it, you probably don't do much in your day to day without having a reason why you're doing it. A y can be really powerful, because it can be incredibly motivating. So why are you working to recover, maybe it's so that you can travel the world or to become a parent, or a better partner, or parent. And just a quick reminder, you're already an amazing parent, partner, spouse, sister, all the things anxiety and all. Or maybe it's just to experience more peace, right? Or maybe it's to live out your dreams, or to land that job that you've always wanted, or just to experience more freedom. So we really want you to think about this. And I want you to write down your why somewhere. And when you see it, I want you to remind yourself of it. Your WHY, like I said, it's such a powerful motivator. It's something that we'll continue to really recognize and see why you're doing the work that you're doing. And there's so much more behind it than just pushing yourself to face the hard stuff and to feel the anxiety and you know, all the not so fun stuff. So I want you to define your why and really remind yourself of it often. Okay, the next small step is kind of a really big one. And it's another really important one, I want you to start building your awareness. And what I mean by this is really start becoming aware of how you're responding to anxiety, and what unhealthy coping mechanisms maybe you're reaching for, and what behaviors and things might be contributing to your struggles. Like this is huge, because if you can't even recognize how you respond to anxiety, like if you don't know how you respond to anxiety, if you don't even know that you're reaching for unhealthy coping mechanisms, or that you're performing these unhealthy behaviors, how the heck are you going to change it and create those new and healthy pathways and maybe for you, you're like, Shannon, I already have the awareness, I'm just not really taking the healthy action. That's great. Having awareness is such a huge piece that will lead you to the healing and it will help you so much along your journey. But if you're like, No, I don't even really know how to respond to anxiety. I don't know I I'm not really aware, really work to cultivate an awareness because it's one of the most important things you can't develop that healthy response to anxiety in that healthy relationship with anxiety without it. So start building your awareness, start recognizing when you're responding in unhealthy ways. And when you do this, you know, awareness building and recognizing Please don't beat yourself up for doing anything that might not be so healthy. It's, it's okay, it's simply just starting to acknowledge when you're making unhealthy decisions, and seeing it as an opportunity to make more healthy ones. So being aware and shifting your response, this is all such a big part of recovery and how you heal. Alright, this next one is another really big one, I feel like they all are. But you have to practice allowing yourself to acknowledge your anxious thoughts and feelings. And actually give yourself space to feel them. So rather than trying to fight, suppress or avoid your thoughts and your feelings, you have to really work on making space to acknowledge them, to allow yourself to feel them to really just let them be there without trying to do a bunch of things to get rid of them. And really, this means also acknowledging and feeling without judgment, because it's okay to feel anxious. It's okay to feel scared, it's okay to feel upset. You really have to allow yourself to feel your emotions, with not being super judgy about why you're feeling them or or what it means because it really doesn't mean anything aside from you're just feeling something or you're having thoughts and just let them pass and they do pass and they start to pass with a lot less tension when you just begin making space for them. So remember, you're allowed to feel anxious and it doesn't have to mean anything when you feel anxious. So allow yourself to feel it and allow yourself to let it go. But remember, this one is a huge piece of recovery, like really practicing letting yourself feel anxious and making space for it and Not trying to come up against it and do everything to get rid of it. This is such a huge healthy action that you can consistently practice in your day to day. All right, the next one, look for ways to reduce stress. Like we all know, stress has such a major impact on our systems, our physical health, mental health, emotional health, and really looking to support your nervous system. And helping it to become more regulated is a huge piece that will help you it's a huge piece of recovery. And it's a big part of how you build the trust and the knowing back within yourself so that you feel safe. And it also gives you the capacity to actually face the hard stuff. So ways that you can reduce stress, right, I'll give you five here. So first one, slow down and take time to rest. I know this can be really hard, because you might convince yourself like I have to go I have to do I have to really recover. And the more I do the the quicker I'm gonna recover, the quicker I'm gonna get there. And it's just not true, the more you try to force and put that pressure on yourself, and you don't allow yourself to rest, it's going to create even more stress and even more anxiety. So rest is essential, right, it allows your mind and body to recharge, so that it can actually continue to take the healthy steps. Number two relieving stress can simply be moving your body. And this doesn't have to be anything crazy, this can be just getting out taking a walk, even starting with a 15 minute walk, or any type of movement that you really enjoy. Maybe it's a sport, maybe it's an activity, maybe it's playing with your dog or your kids in whatever way that you can move your body, it is going to be helpful in relieving and reducing stress. Okay, the third one, and this is one that I haven't really talked too much about. But I feel like it is an important one. I think if you're one that you like to take the natural path, there are some natural supplements and some supportive remedies. And I share quite a few supplements and other remedies on my Amazon store friend. And I will link to that in the show notes. Like I love caffeine free teas, and they can really help to reduce stress and just make you feel a bit calmer. I love magnesium supplements, and there are some bath products there. So you can check these things out. And definitely if you have any questions regarding supplements, or if you should take something or whether or not it's a good choice for you, please make sure to consult with a health care professional. Okay, number four, set boundaries and actually stick to them, including boundaries with yourself, like this can really help to reduce stress, maybe it's boundary surrounding work, or family members or activities, you know, just allowing yourself to say no more can go a really long way. So set boundaries, that can be a really good one to really even reduce stress. And number five, the last one, check your relationship with your phone and social media. Like I cannot stress this one enough. So much stress and overwhelm comes from how much information and just junk we take into our brains. So some things that can be helpful. turn off notifications, do a social media inventory, like look at who you're following what you're following. Do these accounts that you're following actually make you feel good? Or do they make you feel bad? Or just take an inventory? How much time do you actually spend on social media, maybe you can limit the time that you spend on social media or just put parameters on how much time you're spending on your phone. And I know that there are apps and even things within your phone that can help you with this. So this is a big one, you know, we often overlook the small things that are actually going to help us to heal. Please do not overlook supporting your nervous system. This is such a big one and will help you in so many aspects. Okay, the next one, carve out 10 to 15 minutes of your day to face something that you've been avoiding, or to do something that scares you. I know this one probably sounds IQ. And yes, it's probably going to be hard and it's probably going to be scary. But facing your fears and doing the things that scare you is how you push past the things that are leading to the anxiety and the symptoms and panic and fears. And I'm talking just 10 or 15 minutes. If you have to just start with five, that's great. Start with five minutes, maybe it's five minutes in a car or five minutes of walking around your neighborhood or five minutes going into a store by yourself or five minutes of being alone in your house. And believe it or not, this is something that I still practice every single day like I set a goal every day to do something that scares me or something that just makes me feel a little bit like not super comfortable. And you know what doing so has led to so much more courage, more confidence, more trust in myself, more joy, more peace, more freedom, I really can't emphasize enough, it is absolutely worth it to do the things that make you feel uncomfortable. It's absolutely worth it to do the things that scare you. And remember, just because you feel uncomfortable just because you feel scared just because you feel like oh, gosh, it does not mean that you're in danger. So take 510 15 minutes and just push yourself, you know, in a very with something that feels very manageable, it might feel scary, overwhelming, like, Yes, this is going to be hard, but it doesn't feel like it's throwing you off the deep end. So challenge yourself today, what is something I can do that really is going to make me feel uncomfortable, and is something that scares me, I promise you are so much more capable than you think you are. Okay, the next small step,
ask for support. When you're struggling with an anxiety disorder, I know you often probably convince yourself, you can ask for support, because if you do, it means that you're needy, or weak or dependent or incapable, or that you're seeking reassurance. But the truth is, we all need support. And we are all deserving and worthy of support. Like you do not have to recover alone. And in fact, if you're trying to, you are less likely to recover if you're going about it alone. So ask for help share what you're struggling with. And I promise you, those who love you and care about you and the people you need in your life, they're going to support you, they're going to help you in any way that they can. After all, I'm sure this is how you feel about those that you love and care about, right? I know when somebody I love and care about needs me and they ask for my help. No question about it, I'm there because I want to be not because I feel obligated. So if you're not currently in therapy, or if you're not currently working with a coach, find somebody who can help you and support you and guide you, or join a class or a program. There are so many classes, you know, not just my own, of course, and not just my own panic to Peace program. But there are so many things out there that can help you to get the support that validation to be heard and seen. And just that community, there are so much they can be helpful. So don't try to go about it alone. Ask for help. Okay, the last one is a really good and important one, do one thing every day that you enjoy. I know this might sound silly, but it's so powerful. Just because you're working to recover doesn't mean that you should stop living, right? Like you cannot stop living just because you're working to recover from something. So it can be something super simple. Maybe for you. It's, you know, knitting or crocheting or singing or dancing or watching something that you really like or calling a friend or taking a walk outside. Like that is something that's big for me every day non negotiable. I get outside and they walk in nature, because that's something that I really love. And it's something that gives me so much. So just setting aside even 10 minutes each day to do something that you enjoy, I would love it if it were a bit longer than this. But whatever you can commit to consistently is, is going to be super helpful. So remember, recovery happens while you're living. If you try to hit pause on finding happiness and joy until you've recovered, recovery is going to be a whole lot less likely to happen. And it's going to absolutely suck in the process. So you deserve to do things that you enjoy every day, you deserve to regain that enjoyment. So maybe initially, you might not super enjoy it. But the more that you do it, I promise you, you will begin to enjoy these things again. So I think I just walked through with you eight small healthy steps that you can take. And these are practical things, you can start doing these things today. But there are so many other healthy small steps that you can take that will support you in your recovery. And I know these things may seem insignificant and not so powerful. But remember, it's truly the small healthy steps that lead to healing and peace and joy. So start small and pick one or two of these things that you are drawn to and really try them out and commit to them daily. And the more you take consistent healthy action, the more quickly you're going to make progress and actually reach your goals. And remember, the small steps don't often lead to immediate relief. I know you want that immediate relief. I know you just want to feel better right now. But it really often takes that consistency and practice to reap the rewards of these actions and these small steps. So really commit to them and I promise you will see the benefits So I talk about taking these small, healthy actions often because it's really the small steps, taking them consistently, that will help you to undo the unhealthy pathways. It's what helps you to change your response to anxiety, and to your thoughts and feelings. And all of these things help you to change your relationship with anxiety and create that healthy relationship that you're so desperately wanting to create. And your brain needs the repetition to create new and healthy pathways, pathways that don't lead to the symptoms, panic and fears. And your brain needs repetition to undo the unhealthy habits. And the small steps are what really helps to show you that you are in fact capable of accomplishing so many amazing things. And they are what leads to more courage and confidence and trust and to a stronger belief and knowing that recovery is absolutely possible for you. And change that lasting change and healing that you're looking for. It doesn't happen in big and drastic leaps. It happens in the consistent small actions. So friend, please stop waiting for and searching for something or someone and just start committing to consistently taking small healthy steps. And I know they might not seem like they're doing much in the moment. But I promise you they are. The small steps are leading to amazing things. And you know what, you are so worthy and deserving of amazing things. And if you're like Shannon, I'd love to this, but I want I need somebody to guide me, I need motivation. I need accountability. Like I've tried to do this on my own. I've tried to take a lot of these healthy steps. I've done a lot of this work and I'm still struggling. I just I don't know what to do anymore. I want to encourage you to check out my program, panic to peace. It's a 10 week program and over 10 weeks we meet every single week. And I guide you I guide you through all the healthy steps, I encourage you and motivate you and you have a community of support, who are traveling a very similar path as you and you will get all of their support. And just these programs, this program and they the community in the group, they are my absolute favorite because I meet so many amazing people who are just so kind and so compassionate, and just so helpful. And when it all comes together it is just so stinking beautiful. So if you want more guidance, definitely check that out. But until next time, my friend, keep taking healthy action. I hope you enjoyed this episode of a healthy push. If you want more, head on over to ahealthypush.com for the show notes and lots more tips, tools and inspiration that will support your recovery. And if you're hoping for me to cover a certain topic, be sure to join my Instagram community @ahealthypush and let me know in the comments what you want to hear next.
