7 Reasons To Start Something New
Anxiety can often be a barrier to starting new things, but with coping skills and reframed thoughts, we can find the inspiration and energy to begin adventures. Don’t get me wrong, this can take a long time and occasionally (even often!) anxiety can prevent us from starting anything. Even when we are doing what we love, anxiety might chirp in, reminding us of things that might scare us or make us feel uncomfortable. I made a list of reasons to start something new in order to cope with this anxiety.
There are two important things to remember when moving past the barriers of anxiety to try something new. Coping with anxiety is a practice and requires work and patience-- no coping skill is going to work every time. Continue to check-in with yourself and see if the activity or experience is benefiting you positively and is worth the effort of coping with anxiety. The second thing to remember is that you don’t have to like everything that you try. I guarantee you won’t. It’s ok to try something only once and then let it be.
To help reframe thoughts, it can be beneficial to come up with a list of why this new thing might benefit you. This list is going to be different based on the person, the place, the time and the new thing. I’ve tried to compile a list that would fit with most activities.
1. It will make me feel good! – This is a fantastic reason to start something new. You can substitute “good” with any other adjective like "worthwhile," "happy," "content," "calm," "excited," etc.
2. It is a challenge. – New things are going to be scary, there is no way around it, but moving through a challenge is a way to grow personally. Again, continue to check-in with yourself and make sure this challenge is not impacting your life negatively more than it is positively. Are you able to find a balance?
3. It will make a change in my life. – Change is good! As everyone always says, “The only constant is change”. Like challenges, changes can help us to grow personally. Switching up our schedules and making a change in our lives can also help to awaken our brain. A quick aside: during quarantining I often recommended that clients change up their daily schedule in order to cope with feeling stagnant.
4. It is something that I have always wanted to do. – Have you always wanted to try a cooking class or adopt a dog? Maybe now is the time (It’s ok if now is not the time too).
5. I will learn something new. – Sometimes anxiety prevents us from starting something new because we worry that we will be bad at it or make a fool of ourselves. It is important to remind ourselves that learning something new takes time and we won’t be perfect at it right off the bat. Perfection is not possible.
6. It will help me to create new relationships. – Joining a class or a group will offer new opportunities for creating new relationships. Be mindful that cultivating relationships takes time for both you and the other party.
7. I can stop at anytime. – You can! If you start journaling and it is negatively impacting your life, then it is ok that you stop. Often, perfectionist thoughts tell us that we can’t quit because that would mean we have failed. Sometimes it takes more courage to quit something than to keep it going.
Feel free to use this list and mold it to fit your own life and thoughts! Take a chance and try something new!