I’ve been struggling with anxiety for 5 years now . Even though it’s not as bad as it was before, it’s still there.

A while ago during one of my anxiety attacks and a usual dose of self hate and criticism, something in my mind clicked. My brain was being a toddler. I decided to try something new. I thought about it and realized that my anxiety was basically a toddler with major temper problems. I separated myself from myself to talk to myself in my mind with the tone one would use when confronting a toddler.

Say, for example, I’m panicking about visiting a friend. Me panicking was that toddler throwing a tantrum and refusing to go anywhere. I’d use my voice of reason and talk to this toddler in my head in a calm voice. “Why don’t you want to go see your friend?” this would prompt me to think about a valid reason. I’d ‘listen’ to the reasons and rationalize them and give a response to the toddler to help deal with being afraid of going to see a friend. Explain in a calm voice and try to not lose your cool because if you lose your cool, you’d have an upset toddler who wouldn’t listen. Be patient. The more you listen, comfort care for and try to help the toddler, the behavior of the toddler would get better and the ‘tantrums’ would decrease.

I have no idea if this makes sense to anybody reading but I hope it helps in some way. I’m not sure what doing this would be called though lol. Doing this has helped me avoid many more anxiety attacks. Though it mightn’t be completely effective, it could help in some way!