Bev Aisbett - 30 Days 30 Ways to Overcome Anxiety

CONTENTS

BEV AISBETT is the author and illustrator of several highly regarded self-help texts for sufferers of anxiety and depression, most notably Living with IT and Taming the Black Dog. These books are distributed to health professionals nationwide and have been translated into four languages.

A trained counsellor, Bev is also the facilitator of the Art of Anxiety recovery program in Melbourne. For those unable to attend her workshop in person, she offers a home study version, The Art of Anxiety DVD Workshop, as well as other online resources and services. She conducts lectures to assist sufferers of depression and anxiety within metropolitan and regional Victoria.

Bev is also a recognised artist and her soulful paintings have been regularly exhibited in Victoria and Tasmania.

Workshop and lecture information,

and other anxiety resources:

www.bevaisbettartofanxiety.com

HarperCollinsPublishers

First published in Australia in 2018

by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

ABN 36 009 913 517

harpercollins.com.au

Copyright Bev Aisbett 2018

The right of Bev Aisbett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN: 978 1 4607 5465 8 (pbk)

ISBN: 978 1 4607 0909 2 (ebook)

Front cover and internal illustrations by Bev Aisbett

Cover design by Hazel Lam, HarperCollins Design Studio

To my dear friends,

teachers and helpers,

without whom

I would be a reader of this

instead of the writer.

Its taken me 25 years of practice to show you how to overcome anxiety in 30 days, so you have the easy part!

Contained in this book is the best of all that has been tried and tested over those 25 years firstly, through my own journey out of severe anxiety; and, secondly, through steering all my wonderful workshop participants and one-to-one clients on the same path to freedom from anxiety by learning how to be their own counsellor and build their own recovery.

You might think 30 days isnt much time to overcome what may have been years of struggle, but its not all that different from giving up any habit that isnt good for you. Once you see it in perspective, it only takes one decision to let it go.

Essentially, all thats happened is that youve had a problem but not the resources to deal with it effectively.

Overcoming anxiety isnt about wishful thinking its about employing skilful thinking. Without those skills, your mind can take you wherever it likes and, with anxiety, it can take you to the wildest and (lets be honest) most ridiculous places!

Now its time for you to take back the reins and gain mastery over your own wellbeing.

Working your way through the 30 days will help you build the skills to do this one step at a time; and, like building a house, you do it in stages.

Keep your eyes on the prize and stick with it. If you conk out after Day 10, youre only going to have the slab and a couple of walls done!

Look at it this way. You head off on a road trip because you want to get to the destination. Do you get halfway then turn around and go home because youre frustrated that you havent arrived yet?

And consider this maybe you havent arrived yet because you keep taking detours into things that bog you down!

You could approach the 30 days and make it hard work, or you could approach it with interest and enthusiasm. But whichever way you do it, just do it, eh? You are going to be living out the next 30 days anyway, so you may as well do something useful with them.

Making these skills super-effective means using them until they become second nature. Youre getting a taste of how much better you can feel by trying them for 30 days. To make them really stick, ideally youll make them a part of your ongoing normal routine.

Having said that, any one of these 30-day practices could have you turning the corner because each days focus contains an insight into yourself.

Its not your anxiety that has to change: its how you use your anxiety to help you change that leads to healing.

You might do your 30 days on a daily basis; or you might reserve one day a week, when you dont have other distractions, to give the practices your full attention.

Its up to you. Theres no have to about this. But if you choose to undertake the journey over 30 days, you can feel sooo much better in just a months time!

Oh, and by the way if you are not familiar with IT from my previous books, here he is...

I created IT to represent that worrisome, critical inner voice that generates anxiety.

Hes actually not a bad guy; hes just a little overly-vigilant but, yes, his presence and messages can seem scary at first till you better understand whats really going on and how to work with him.

Over the 30 days, youll come to see him in a different and much kinder light.

My love and best wishes to you,

Bev XXX

You are not

BROKEN

You are not being

PUNISHED

Your EMOTIONAL BAROMETER needs adjustment. Your THINKING THERMOMETER is overheated.

Think of a car. If you run it on watered-down petrol, fail to maintain it properly, let it overheat and run it into the ground, would you be surprised if it stopped working properly or started to give you trouble?

Well, thats all thats happening to you!

If you have spent a lifetime (consciously or unconsciously) feeding yourself thoughts of DOOM and GLOOM , if you CRITICISED and JUDGED yourself harshly, and/or if you expected the WORST and LAMENTED the past, you were creating a PERFECT STORM which translates to ANXIETY . You couldnt help it its just the way you did things; nonetheless, thats why youre ANXIOUS .

Mystery solved! Its just STRESS ! And you dont handle stress W ELL , do you?

So please let go of the idea that you have some HORRIBLE , INCURABLE DISEASE that has appeared out of NOWHERE , or that you can do NOTHING about this, or that you are TRAPPED FOREVER !

You now need to MANAGE your anxiety. And thats what were about to start doing. Are you BEATING YOURSELF UP for having anxiety?

Are you telling yourself youre WEAK or STUPID , or that youve LOST EVERYTHING because you feel this way?

Why are you TURNING on yourself? Is that going to help you feel LESS ANXIOUS ? NO ! So CUT that OUT !

For Petes sake, how could you do it any other way if you hadnt yet LEARNED how to? Would you expect a person with no carpentry skills to build you a perfect piece of furniture? NO !