Your strengths

The symptoms of anxiety are greatly influenced by four things:

• The way in which we think about ourselves
• The way in which we think about other people
• How we think about the situation we’re in
• By what we do with our time

Some things we do improve our health and some things we do worsen our health. Some of the things that can increase our health and well-being are: Doing things which give us a sense of mastery or pleasure, exercising, eating healthily and spending time with people who help us feel good about ourselves.

Some things that can reduce our health and well-being are: Worrying instead of solving problems (our problems mount up and we don’t get a sense of achievement from solving them), avoiding challenging situations (this can make our fears grow) and paying too much attention to people who reduce our confidence and self-esteem.