9 Ways to Stay Motivated During the Recovery Process

Are you sick and tired of feeling anxious and unmotivated at the same time? Millions of anxious people just like you experience terrible symptoms every day but struggle to do something about it.

What if I told you that there was a better way? Well, there is, and today I’m going to tell you how it’s done. First, let me back up a bit – when I was at the height of my anxiety I convinced myself that feeling other emotions was bad.

Sure, I got anxious, but I couldn’t control that. So, to maintain what little control I did have, I bottled-up the rest of my emotions. I never got too high or too low. People often said that I was “even-keeled.”

What they didn’t know was that I was afraid to lose control, so I kept everything tight. I didn’t let myself feel anything as intensely as I did anxiety.

But I don’t want you to feel more anxiety. Instead, I want you to feel more anger, despair, or even fear, because feelings drive change. Today you’re getting helpful tips on how to motivate yourself during the recovery process – which is great, but not enough.

In reality, there’s only one thing you absolutely must do if you want to stay motivated and recover 100%. And that is finding the right counter-emotion to anxiety. Whether it’s anger, fear, or something else, always remember that recovery is fueled by feelings.

I felt anger. I let myself feel frustrated, disappointed and impatient, and unleashed it on my anxiety. Like Claire Weekes, I’ve always advocated that anxious people try to accept their anxiety to reduce its impact. I still do.

But over the years I’ve realized that acceptance alone isn’t enough, especially when you’ve just begun the recovery process. To be honest, anger kept me focused and fed my curious analysis of anxiety. It gave me the courage and strength I needed to break the zombie-like trance I was in.

Take a moment to think about what emotion will drive you to work on your anxiety. Once you’ve done that use that feeling to make good use of this list:

Way #1: Create a clear vision

There’s a good chance that you spend too much time being surprised by your anxiety-related problems. That’s despite seeing the same ones every day.

They keep shocking you over and over again. So, for starters – try something different, like creating a new vision of you. What would it feel like to not be anxious anymore? What new things would you do? How freaking cool would that be? Being problem focused isn’t helpful, but imagining yourself at peace is a good start.

Way #2: Exercise your personal power

Once you have created a clear vision, take action. Otherwise, what you end up with is a set of vague goals and unmet expectations.

This, of course, isn’t the easiest thing in the world to pull off. Anxiety is all about overthinking rather than overdoing. As your first power act, take out a pen and paper and apply the steps below to your own situation.

Way #3: Decide what you want

Unfocused wants feed doubt and keep you on a path to nowhere. Having clear, laser-focused goals however, make recovery more likely.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always liked Christmas gifts that I asked for ahead of time a lot more than any surprise I ever got. So take the guess work out of the process and determine what direction you want to go in.

Way #4: Write down what you want

If you don’t write down what you want, it won’t happen. In my view, if you don’t take the time to write down your goals, they don’t exist.

Way #5: Set realistic goals

When you set unrealistic goals it means hoping for one thing and getting something else on a regular basis. This could create a tremendous sense of hopelessness and kill your progress, so please don’t do this.

Way #6: Start with baby steps

Don’t make yourself crazy with big goals. Start small and work your way up. That way every time you meet a small goal you’ll see progress and stay motivated enough to move on to the next phase.

Way #7: Don’t be a perfectionist

On some level high anxiety is about control – having it, keeping it, even craving it makes anxious people happy. But if you want to recover from abnormal anxiety you’re going to have to practice having less of it.

While you work on your anxiety you will experience all kinds of setbacks and things will not always go your way. Expect things to go wrong from time to time and celebrate when they don’t.

Way #8: Build a support system

Okay, so this has nothing to do with complaining to your mom. We all need to do that sometimes, but it’s not actually a solution.

What is an actual solution is being connected to others. Spend time with your friends and family and don’t talk about your anxiety while you do it. Simply enjoy their company and get out of your head.

Way #9: Let yourself feel

As you do all of this, don’t forget why you’re doing it. Let yourself feel all your emotions, no matter how bad, so that you are reminded of why you need to exercise, eat right, meditate, or whatever you decide to do to lower your anxiety.

In this week’s episode of The Anxiety Guru Show, I explore how you can stay motivated as you work towards decreasing your stress and anxiety.

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