Anxiety and Self-Esteem
You’re exhausted from feeling tense and on edge.
You are your own worst critic.
You frequently scan your surroundings for threats, finding it hard to relax or trust.
You incessantly compare yourself to others.
You overanalyze what you say and do.
No matter how hard you work, you never feel good enough.
It’s hard to say no and you stretch yourself too thin until you hit a breaking point, feeling overwhelmed and possibly shut down.
This may feel all too familiar but therapy can help you find more relaxation and peace, enjoying a more self-confident version of yourself.
I approach anxiety and self-esteem as I would tend to the health of a tree. When caring for a tree, we sometimes need to prune the branches so that they don’t break. In therapy, this looks like bolstering coping skills to better manage anxieties and self-esteem struggles. But managing what we see on the outside is usually not enough to sustain long-term health of the tree. We often must tend to the tree’s root system–in therapy that is exploring and healing the root causes of your anxiety and self-esteem struggles. Sometimes we must assess whether or not the tree is getting enough light, water and has nutrient-rich soil–in therapy, this means exploring how things like your environment, relationships, past experiences, access to resources and self-care impact your well-being.