- Date posted
- 1y
Can someone answer this please?
I'm confused on this. We're told to sit with the anxiety, but wouldn't that be suppressing our feelings? I'm confused.
I'm confused on this. We're told to sit with the anxiety, but wouldn't that be suppressing our feelings? I'm confused.
No, when you’re sitting with the anxiety you acknowledge what you’re feeling, staying present in the moment, and not doing anything to get rid of it. Suppressing would be pushing away the feelings, using unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with them (e.g., alcohol and drugs), and distracting yourself to avoid experiencing those emotions. Those are just a few examples.
Got it! Thank you for the explanation thus makes sense now.
Yes exactly what blazed said. "Sitting" with anxiety, or any emotion for that matter, is quite literally the opposite of suppressing your feelings. You're focusing your attention on them, and allowing them to be seen. This skill isn't only useful for treating OCD, it's something that is vital to us as humans. It's also something that not many people are capable of doing these days. Being unwilling to sit with difficult emotions is why people spend hours watching YouTube videos, playing video games, scrolling through social media, shopping for things they don't really need, drinking, etc. Perhaps you have the idea that by "sitting with anxiety," you aren't doing anything, and therefore you're being irresponsible. The opposite is true. Consider a parent that is dealing with their screaming child. They might try desperately to get the child to stop screaming by dangling toys in front of them, giving them a pacifier, or even getting frustrated and angry with them. While this might work some of the time, it only "kicks the can down the road," as they say, as ultimately the child doesn't really feel seen. That's sort of what we do with our emotions and compulsions. Instead, it's better for the parent to fully acknowledge that the child is in distress, and give them their full, undivided, non-judgemental attention until the child feels safe enough to calm down. It might take a little longer than the more forceful tactics, but it provides a much better relationship in the long run. That's what we're doing when we sit with our emotions.
Thank you for this explanation, while sitting with anxiety I'll keep these advices in mind. Thanks again!
So recently my mind is trying to make me feel like I accept the thoughts, like I'm ok with for example loving X person. After I get a thought like that and I realize it I get anxious and, like right now, I cry for 1 hour+ on the bathroom floor. I feel exhausted and I want to know if I'm the only one having this.
How do you sit with anxiety? I wanna check my pulse over and over again. I dunno what caused my anxiety. Now I am just sitting here. Ugh! I feel crazy!
I've been told a lot that in order to get better, we need to tolerate uncertainty, which yea I get that and I'm trying every day more and more to reach that point!! But I've also been told that we need to tolerate uncertainty AND "our worst fears becoming true". Like how does that work, especially with POCD, OCD about a///ault, SA and all of that? Like that is really difficult for me and I don't really understand how I'm supposed to just shrug stuff like that off
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