A for Anxiety – No longer a taboo

This is the second article of a series of 4, one for each letter of the acronym BANI.

BANI Why?

The acronym BANI stands for Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, and Incomprehensible. It describes the current state of the world, but why is this BANI acronym even needed??

In the previous article, I shared that acronyms allow us to categorize, and categories help us cope with life. This article specifically discusses coping with anxiety, so the acceptance of BANI will gain even more relevance, as it can offer some kind of relief and permission for people who are experimenting with anxiety.?

The sensation of acceptance and being understood can diminish anxiety in those who fear acceptance. In a sense, BANI makes anxiety a norm rather than an exception.

Those who still judge people experiencing anxiety, I would like to leave here a question from the book titled “Status Anxiety”: “Why haven’t we managed to achieve mental stability alongside physical comfort?”

One answer I can think of is that progress requires information sharing, but mental health has been taboo for so long (and to some extent still is), that admitting to and discussing it can be intimidating.

HeartMath Take on Anxiety?

According to the HeartMath company, anxiety can show itself as feelings of worry, nervousness, or insecurity, and can range from feeling uneasy to experiencing strong fear. One of the main problems, they say, is that the more we experience anxiety, the more it becomes a habit pattern, which means that it becomes an automatic response when faced with adversity.?

?Stress and anxiety, they claim, are based on how we perceive people, situations and life. During anxiety, however, we are less able to think clearly, reason, and make effective decisions. Our perception dismisses us.?

?It is possible, however, to change perceptions. The challenge is learning to access the coherent rhythm of our hearts when we are anxious. To put it another way, how to shift from a negative state to a positive one. You can achieve this by thinking or practicing appreciation, care, compassion, calm, thereby resulting in more positive emotions, thoughts, and perceptions.???

Overthinking?

In preparation for this article, I posted the question “How do you recognize anxiety in yourself?” on the Facebook group called “Secret Tel Aviv” and on my personal wall. Curiously enough, there was no reaction on my personal wall, but people reacted and commented on the FB group. The most popular answer was: Overthinking.

There is a strong relationship between anxiety and overthinking, which is difficult to break. We can distinguish thinking from overthinking, asking ourselves the question “Am I able to connect with the present moment?”. When the answer is no, you are overthinking.?

Overthinking involves imagining things that never happened, but still taking them seriously. At the end of the day, you might come up with a verdict on the question you originally set out to answer, but it will be based on assumptions created by you.??

Living in the present is most often achieved through mindfulness. However, if you, like me, are not yet ready for mindfulness, begin simply by understanding that you can interfere with overthinking.?

My technique when I overthink or have negative thoughts is just to stop thinking and breathe slowly and evenly. As soon as I am balanced again, I begin to name loudly what I see: window, desktop, chair, board. Once back on earth, reprogramming the thread of thoughts becomes easy.?

Finally, if you are in a phase where you are often overthinking, try stopping taking your own thoughts so personally, because your self-esteem is probably low right now, so you don't want to associate all your thoughts with the insignificant person you think you are.?

?Amygdala Hijack?

?Anxiety will cause our body to send signals in the form of symptoms. Physical symptoms include fatigue, muscle tension, indigestion, and trouble sleeping. Emotional symptoms include irritability, impatience, oversensitivity, and feeling emotionally drained. Mental symptoms include difficulty focusing, foggy thinking, judging or blaming oneself or others, guilt, resentment and negative projections.?

As a consequence of ongoing anxiety, an amygdala hijack might occur, in which our amygdala (which is responsible for determining whether something in our environment is a danger to us) takes control of our behavior. The triggers that cause our amygdala to perceive a situation as a threat when it is not can be our own thoughts, memories, and emotions.??

When anxiety becomes part of our thoughts and attitudes, we live our lives in a persistent feeling of being at risk when there is, in fact, no imminent threat. Translating this to daily life, you can find yourself asking an inofensive question to a team-member, while he/she feels attacked and answers in a furious way.?

Coping vs Avoiding Anxiety

Some would say that avoiding is a way to cope, but that isn't true if your goal is to overcome anxiety.?

Anxiety over a particular issue can lead to phobia. Therefore, to prevent phobias, it is important to learn how to cope with the thing that makes you anxious.?

A socially anxious person, for example, should not avoid social settings at all, but come up with strategies to feel less stressed in them. For example, taking more frequent bathroom breaks, or assuming tasks during an event to keep busy with the logistics. There will come a time when no more excuses will be needed.?

Leaders can Help?

Employees who are not stressed are more productive and happy. However, can there be stress-free workers while every one of them is in fact a person living in the state of #BANI??

Identifying and recognizing the cause of anxiety is one of our roles as leaders to better help his/her people cope with anxiety.?

Below is a list of actions that leaders can take to reduce anxiety. This list was inspired by two books I blinked while writing this article: "Anxiety" and "Status Anxiety":

• Overwhelmed: Employees who work under a lot of pressure and are overloaded with work may develop anxiety. It is not always possible for leaders to reduce the number of milestones, but we can create better expectations, rethink timelines, and, most importantly, we must figure out what is most frustrating to our people and offer solutions. For example, tasks that can be automated but that are being done manually right now, or activities that could be handled by another department or intern.
• Job Insecurity: Anxiety caused by job insecurity can be triggered by, among other things, things like robots taking your job or not having a clear career path. Consequently, leaders need to regularly communicate career opportunities for growth and development.?
• Exclusion: Some people may feel left out as a result of being anxious about who they are. It may be that they belong to a minority group or that they lack some specific ability that most people seem to have. A leader should foster authenticity, share and ask more, arrange some quality time altogether, and prioritise one-on-ones at least twice a year.?
• Perfectionism: On every team, there are perfectionists who suffer from anxiety due to an overwhelming sense of judgment by others. Leadership can make people's feelings more at ease by articulating what is good enough and giving reassurance.

Additional ideas to help coping with anxiety at our workplace will be: making sure the work environment is clean and keep a order; providing healthy snacks; avoiding loud music throughout the day.?

Anyways, remember that no amount of ice-cream flavors, yoga classes, or a cruise in the Caribbean can fix anxiety in an employee who is overburdened.?

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Here a link to the previous article just in case you missed it “B for Brittle - How to embrace fragility?“

Next Article on Non-Linear. Ideas? Thoughts? Please share

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Clarification: This article is not by any means a medical guideline, but rather a collection of thoughts, insights, and tips to overcome the kind of anxiety most of us experience, at some level, in our everyday lives.

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#WordTune used for editing