I'm scared of not being anxious

[mauricio]

In my therapy, my therapist told me that all of my worries and panic attacks can be traced back to low self esteem. But I'm really freaked out because that means that it's curable? And I've had anxiety for almost my whole life, I've based everything around it and now I'm scared about it not being there?? What do I do?

[IrmaJean]

I think that sometimes even things that are painful to us can feel familiar and there is some comfort in what is familiar. Change, in and of itself, can feel frightening and new. Maybe you might express to your therapist what you have expressed here to us?

Welcome to our community, mauricio.

[mauricio]

That's true. When the anxiety is bad, I would do anything to get rid of it but at other times, it's become such a big part of who I am that I can't even imagine what not being anxious all the time would be like.

I probably should tell my therapist that but I'm worried that she'll think I'm being ridiculous

[malign]

Is it ridiculous, though? You're anxious for a reason, even if the reason turns out to be a mistake. Would you feel that a mistake makes you ridiculous?

Lots of times, what we expect other people to think is what part of us already thinks, which is why I ask those particular questions. If that's what's happening, you have the opportunity to interact with that part of you directly, which might help it relax enough so that you can address its fears.