“The only thing that frees us from anxiety is doing the thing you are afraid to do.” So many nuggets of advice for facing anxiety head-on today in this episode of The Workplace Therapist Show with Licensed Counselor, Mazi Robinson. Mazi notes that our anger is often unaddressed anxiety. And folks, today we talk about how we’ve entered “next level” anxiety in post-pandemic times. But take heart, Mazi also walks us through how to build resiliency and turn things around.

Dive In:

03:00 Pandemic recap and catch up.

04:00 What’s the vibe? How are we feeling right now? “We are very tired – and tired in a different way than we were pre-pandemic. And we can’t get untired.”

06:00 Mazi explains the wave of uncertainty and why we’re living in a constant state of depletion.

09:30 What’s getting in the way of us living the life we want to live? We’re more easily overwhelmed, struggling to make decisions and ruminating over past decisions. Our anxiety is resulting in a louder inner critic and lack of creativity. “So often our anger is unaddressed anxiety.” – Mazi

12:00 How our inability to control builds on our apathy.

13:30 Our “brush of death” with COVID: “Do I really want to work for this person?” Mazi explains how we can reclaim our agency post-pandemic. Plus, the pandemic’s impact on mental health… where do we go from here?

15:30 We resist identifying what we can and can’t control.

17:00 “The more time I spent in that room, I ruminated.” Brandon shares about pandemic times.

19:00 Building the resilience muscle. Mazi explains how the commute to work and those doorway conversations at work are healthy for us. Using “and” … I don’t like that and I can do it and I will be okay.

22:30 “The only thing that frees us from anxiety is doing the thing you are afraid to do. Avoidance makes our anxiety grow.” – Mazi

27:30 What steps can we start to take for turning things around? Get curious about your anxiety. Speak it out loud or write it down. Take baby steps to face the anxiety. Look at the connections in your life. And remember – you’re not going to want to do any of these steps… but if nothing changes, nothing changes!

32:50 Mazi’s Life Hack: Become more self-aware. “Don’t take every feeling as fact.”

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