By Brian Robinson, No Panic volunteer

The best way to break the anxiety cycle is not to see it as an unbreakable cycle in the first place.

At its heart, anxiety is a disorder caused by tension. When tension levels are raised to a certain critical point, fight or flight is automatically triggered.

See yourself then as one big stressed system.

Now, if you put a relaxant into a stressed system it must relax a bit: that’s physics.

And if you put a lot of relaxants into a stressed system it must relax a lot: that’s maths.

So, as you go about your daily routine ask yourself: is what I’m doing producing tension or is it reducing tension?

The more you reduce tension: the quicker you will recover.

An expanded version of this article will be available in the March 2023 edition of the newsletter for members.