Key anxiety terms

Your body reacting to something it reads as a threat, even when there is not one. It can protect you, or it can wear you out — depending on how long it stays on.

When the sensations of anxiety themselves start to scare you: the racing heart, the tight chest. It can pull you into a loop where the fear feeds the fear.

Learning to look at a thought that hurts you and ask whether it is as true as it sounds. Then trying it on differently, and seeing what shifts.

When you push away what you feel or think so it stops bothering you. It helps for a moment — and then it comes back stronger, asking for your attention.

When worry takes over so many areas of your life that you cannot tell which one to handle first. It is not you — your brain is stuck in 'what if' mode.

Moving toward what you have been avoiding, in steps you can handle. The most proven way to teach your nervous system that the thing you fear is safer than you thought.

Living with your body on alert, as if something bad could happen at any moment. It exhausts you, even when you are not doing anything.

What you think about your own thoughts. When you notice "I am having the thought that..." it has less power over you, because you are the one noticing.

A wave of intense fear that peaks within minutes. Your body is doing what it thinks will keep you safe, even if the alarm feels way too loud. It can feel like a lot, and it does pass.

When a thought keeps coming back and you cannot put it down. You are not reflecting — you are going in circles, and that is exhausting.

A technique that gives worry a fixed time slot in your day, so it does not invade every other moment. You are not avoiding it — you are giving it a place.