How I Found a Path From Anxiety to 'Courageous Calm'
Written by Marci Renée
Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash
I felt anxious. It was the first day of “Courageous Calm,” See Beyond’s workshop on anxiety. How ironic. The workshop was designed to help me process and reduce my anxiety, but actually, it seemed to be significantly increasing my level of anxiety.
Was it anxiety that I was feeling? Was I ready to look at my anxiety—recognize it, talk about it, confess it, and show up in a public space to work on it? I wasn’t really sure.
Dr. Maureen Neihart, PhD, and Timothy Reid, LPC, had us take an Anxiety Self-Awareness Questionnaire during the first session. Oh boy! My scores were high as I honestly examined my feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and physical symptoms. No doubt, it was anxiety I was feeling coming into the workshop that day.
Hopefully this workshop would help me to get started walking on a path from anxiety to “Courageous Calm.” I think I needed it more than I realized.
Not Alone
I sat staring at my computer screen. There were at least 15 faces in the small boxes on Zoom staring back at me. We were all there for the same reason. Who shows up for a workshop on anxiety unless you think you are experiencing anxiety and want to find freedom from it? We were all in the same boat, feeling anxious, yet ready for the ride.
Thankfully, Dr. Maureen and Timothy made us all feel comfortable from the get-go. They were going to walk this path with us, one step at a time.
We broke out into smaller groups in “break out rooms” to respond to a few discussion questions. Thankfully, we were given the freedom to not share and “pass” if we wanted to. Immediately, I found a group of people joining from all over the world who were feeling the same way I was—anxious. Together, we created a safe, confidential space where we could be real with one another. We were all facing anxiety in our personal, family, and work lives. We all wanted help. That’s why we were there.
Over the course of the three workshop sessions, our small discussion group would meet together regularly. It was comforting to me that it was always the same people, the same group, so we could really get to know each other during those days. It felt safe. It felt like a community.
We all expressed the same thing. “Wow! I didn’t know that there were others out there experiencing anxiety like me. It’s so lonely sometimes. Now I know that I’m not the only one.”
Just knowing that I wasn’t alone in my anxiety felt comforting and calming.
Together, we were already off to a great start of walking this path of anxiety to “Courageous Calm.”
Tools for Real Life
The workshop was scheduled for 10 hours over the course of three days, but there were plenty of breaks to not leave us exhausted and overwhelmed. The time flew by as Dr. Maureen and Timothy taught us some practical tools to use in our real-life situations.
At times, we were given time to quietly reflect and work on our own. Other times, we were able to work in pairs or with our “break out group” to discuss our personal situations and to better understand what we were learning. We also had times where the entire workshop group would openly process together and have the freedom to ask questions.
When I left the workshop, I had identified some of my personal anxiety triggers. This growing self-awareness helped me to recognize when those feelings, thoughts, and behaviors were beginning to stir. I could now go into these real-life situations better equipped to manage my anxiety and experience “Courageous Calm” in the midst of the storm.
We also learned about panic attacks and how to recognize them. Dr. Maureen and Timothy gave us some practical steps in how to help ourselves and others if ever we experienced panic attacks. We even got to practice together the breathing and focusing techniques.
Other tools included breathing exercises, worry dumps, progressive muscle relaxation, the identification of automatic thought patterns, and personal goals and plans. The interactive and practical style of the workshop was especially helpful. We didn’t just learn about these tools. Rather, we actually had the opportunity to practice them during the workshop and to see their immediate effects.
New Tools in My Belt
By the time the workshop was over, I had new tools in my “life belt.” This gave me the confidence and hope that I needed to move forward and combat my anxious feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and physical symptoms. I clearly understood that I didn’t have to live with anxiety anymore. I had a choice, and I knew the first steps to take to move forward on a path of peace. In addition to that, I had new friends all over the world who were honest and real enough to confess that they were experiencing anxiety too. I wasn’t alone, and that was a powerful revelation.
I may have started the workshop with higher levels of anxiety, but the new awareness, tools, and community I found slowly helped to decrease it.
“We were all facing anxiety in our personal, family, and work lives. I’m not the only one.”
Even several months later, I am still noticing the benefits of the workshop. When I start to feel my anxiety levels slowly rise, I am increasingly aware of it. I can take the next needed steps. It might be getting out a piece of paper to do a “worry dump.” It might be lying down and turning on the recording for a “progressive muscle relaxation” exercise. It might be doing the “5-4-3-2-1” to ground myself and stabilize my emotions.
What’s amazing is that I am now able to quickly recognize my anxiety building, and I now have the necessary tools in my belt to fight it.
I am well on the way to walking the path from anxiety to “Courageous Calm.” What about you? What path are you on?
Guest author, Marci Renée, along with her French husband and four boys, is a global nomad who has traveled to more than 30 countries and has lived in the United States, France, Morocco, and Spain. She loves to travel, speak foreign languages, experience different cultures, eat ethnic foods, meet people from faraway lands, and of course, write and tell stories. She is a published author of children's picture books, memoirs, short stories, and poetry.
You can find Marci and her books on her website.
"The Cultural Story-Weaver," at www.culturalstoryweaver.com