Anxiety Cheat Codes I Know At 32, I Wish I Knew At 22
Did you know your thoughts send electrochemical signals from the brain to the body through the nervous system?
Yep, your thoughts literally impact the feelings, chemicals and hormones in your body and nervous system.
The thought signals are called "neuro-transmitters" and they drive on the energetic highway of your nervous system.
Negative, fearful and worrisome thoughts? Stress, cortisol, adrenaline, anxiety and low moods like depression.
Positive, optimistic and confident thoughts? Serotonin, oxytocin, peace, love and happiness.
Another fun fact is that your thought patterns are habitual.
In other words, your way of thinking is a habit.
Kinda like if you were to go for a bushwalk, there's gonna be a path already there.
This is because people are in the habit of walking that path.
Your neural pathways are the same, they've been built by habit.
Your habits of thinking.
Let me give you another example...
For some people it’s super easy to go to the gym consistently.
For others, it’s hard.
It’s all habitual.
If you’re an overweight person, you’re probably not in the habit of eating well and exercising often.
You’re more likely to be in the habit of eating shit food and being lazy with your exercise.
If you’re an anxious person, you’re probably not in the habit of thinking positive, clear and empowering thoughts.
You’re more likely to be in a habit of thinking worrisome, doubtful, negative thoughts.
The point I’m making here is simple: Your Way Of Thinking Is A Habit
Why is that important to understand?
Because you can change your habits.
In the same way you can change your physical fitness habits, you can change your mental fitness habits.
In this blog I’m going to talk to you about the "Anxiety Cheat Codes I Know At 32, I Wish I Knew At 22".
Prefer Watching? Check out the video version here:
1. You Need Healthy Habits To OVERCOME Anxiety
Healthy habits that are implemented with discipline are the ONLY thing I have ever seen ACTUALLY WORK for helping people overcome anxiety and build confidence long term.
It’s not “sexy”, but it works.
When you really understand this and fall in love with the idea of the person you could be, sticking to healthy habits with discipline becomes easy.
The key here is that you must understand you can change your habits of thinking by consistently training your mind to think new thoughts…
You must prioritise your mental fitness.
When you get your mind strong, everything else will follow.
Your body will get stronger, your relationships will get stronger, your business or career will get stronger and YOU will get stronger.
2. Alcohol and drugs are the WORST things for your mental health.
If you struggle with substances, you NEED to get this under control ASAP.
I used to drink a lot in my early 20’s and I can tell you from experience, your habits have a compounding effect…
Good habits will compound and get better and better.
Bad habits will also compound and get worse and worse.
The "Law of Attraction" states that like attracts like.
If you continually surround yourself with a negative environment of substances, you’re going to increase your stress levels (hello hangover), your “defenses” will be weakened and you’ll be prone to living in a reactive state.
Negative thoughts creep in easier, negative habits creep in easier and you can easily spiral downwards or worse, you get comfortable with this kind of life.
Drama, stress, gossip and bullshit becomes your normal.
If you surround yourself with a positive environment of health, positivity, goal-oriented people with clear thinking, you will pick that energy up.
You’ll start to be more pro-active with your thinking, you’ll start setting goals, you’ll start thinking positively.
3. You need to stop being a CONTROL FREAK
You will feel MORE ANXIOUS trying to control everything in your life than you would be if you learned to relax.
Whatever “IT” is…
It’s not that important.
Anxious people are control freaks.
If you have a tendency to be controlling, impatient or easily frustrated, you need to learn how to relax and let go.
When you learn to let go, you’ll find a whole new sense of peace and calm which is much deeper than you’ve ever experienced before.
Meditation and visualisation is a game changer for letting go.
A lot of people say they “can’t do it” but the truth is, they haven’t learned how to do it properly.
This is where having a teacher or a coach can come in handy.
4. Managing anxiety is actually very SIMPLE.
You just need to follow a proven and tested system consistently.
The only way you can fuck it up is if you quit.
At the time of writing this, I've helped 250+ anxious business owners and professionals completely overcome their anxiety.
I’ve seen people throw away their medications.
I’ve seen people who struggled with personal boundaries become “unfuckwithable”.
I’ve seen people totally transform life-long anxiety and become the most confident version of themselves they’ve ever been.
It’s not uncommon for my clients to go from a 9/10 or 10/10 on the anxiety scale, to a 1/10 or 2/10 (this can happen within just a few months).
The step-by-step process I teach is the same for everyone.
Step 1. Regulate your nervous system through a daily routine (personalised to your schedule)
Step 2. Reprogram your mind through developing new habits of thinking (specific to your goals)
Step 3. Reset emotional responses by learning how to process triggers (learn to let go)
+ Accountability helps for those days when you feel like you want to quit.
4. Anxiety has a lot do with BELIEFS
When you change your beliefs, you change your thoughts.
When you change your thoughts, you change your words.
When you change your words, you change your actions.
When you change your actions, you change the results you get in life.
The clients I’ve worked with who haven’t succeeded in overcoming their anxiety, haven’t managed to change their beliefs.
This is usually because they are too fixed in their own way of thinking and aren’t willing to keep an open mind for new ideas.
When considering new ideas, you’ve gotta ask yourself:
- Would this idea benefit my life?
If the answer is yes, it could be worth picking up that idea and taking it on board.
Let me introduce you to an idea.
Anxiety is a belief system and it can become an identity if you let it.
The good news is that you can change your beliefs and you can even change your identity.
However to do this, you must be willing to put down your current beliefs and your current identity.
You’ve gotta be willing to let go of who you think you are to become who you can be.
5. The biggest thing that holds people back is their own EGO.
A core understanding here is that everyone has an ego.
A lot of people think they don’t have an ego but really they just don’t understand what the ego is and they probably think having an ego is a really “bad” thing…
That’s not true.
You don’t want to fight your ego, you want to become friends with your ego.
Let me give you an example of this…
I’m Josh Holliday, I’m a meditation teacher, I’m a mindset coach, I’m a Husband, I’m a Father, I’m a business owner, I like the beach, I like coffee, I like exercising, I like self development.
All of these aspects of “me” make up my personality and my personal identification (my ego).
I love myself and I accept myself as I am.
I am not in conflict with myself.
I have become friends with myself and with my ego…
You can do this as well.
The ego is not necessarily a bad thing like most people make it out to be…
It can be a bad thing if you’re unaware of it and it is just running your life without you realising it.
People with big egos often think they’re right all the time.
They have closed minds and are unwilling to keep an open mind for new information.
They’re generally harder to teach or coach because they’re not receptive to new ideas.
You’ve gotta learn how to leave your ego at the door when it comes to overcoming anxiety.
You need to learn how to become deeply self reflective and curious so you can figure out who you really are and what new ideas are going to help you improve you life.
Ask yourself…
Q. Would it be worthwhile laying down my ego to figure out who I really am?
I can tell you this journey of self discovery is an incredible journey to go on.
7. Get Help
I’ve helped 250+ anxious business owners and professionals overcome anxiety and build self confidence.
I know what works and what doesn’t work.
Whether you decide to work with me or someone else for help, remember these cheat codes…
- Build healthy habits to overcome anxiety naturally
- Alcohol and drugs are your worst enemies for mental health
- Stop being a control freak
- Find a simple process to follow
- Learn to shift your negative beliefs
- Become friends with your ego
Do you want me to help you overcome anxiety by shifting your negative beliefs?
Here are a few ways I can help:
- Hire me as your private 1:1 coach by booking a clarity call here.
- Join Mind Launch and get access to my self-paced membership here.
With Optimism,
Josh