Anxiety is a Liar
and These Are Just the Facts

The only way you can fail....is if you give up.

Anxiety cannot win....unless you give up.

You've come so far....it's impossible to give up.

CONGRATULATIONS!

A setback just means you've made progress -- otherwise, how could you have a setback?

You know you're getting better when you can take a "setback" and turn it into a victory.

Anxiety cannot win the battle as long as you are persistent and determined.

You have made more progress than you think. Your brains' processing of these small steps always lapses behind your perception of them.

While you're in cognitive-behavioral therapy, look at your progress in three-week blocks. At each three week milepost, you will be able to see tangible results if you've been persistent and practiced.

No one ever thinks they make enough progress, and everyone thinks they are the "worst" case of anxiety in the world. (Over exaggerating again, huh?)

This situation you're going through is not a life-and-death situation.

Take it easy, loosen up, drool a little in public.

The world will not end because of your perceived embarrassments.

Yesterday is gone and will never come back. Today is a new day, a new life. Does it have to be miserable too?

Don't take life so seriously.

Humor cannot exist simultaneously with anxiety. (Laugh and laugh more!)

-- Thomas A. Richards, Ph.D., Psychologist