approach anxiety and how it fades

by lou blake

Approach anxiety feels like a heavy wall at first, and people think it means they are not cut out for approaching. but most of the time it is just the brain reacting to something unfamiliar, and the only way it fades is by repeating the situation until it becomes trained into your nervous system

When I restarted after time off, I could barely do a few attempts at first. even though years earlier I had days where a high number of approaches felt easy. that was a reminder that comfort doesn't just stay there forever. you build it, you lose it, and you can rebuild it again.

here’s what helped my anxiety drop:

- i told myself the goal was just one attempt - i stayed at the location long enough to settle, let the blood flow, let you settle in, don't rush - i accepted the weird feeling instead of fighting it - i returned again before the fear could reset - doing this over and over again trains you to be more chill

A big part of anxiety is the first ten minutes, first couple approaches. you arrive and feel exposed. It's jarring at first. you feel like everyone is watching, and you start speed walking and beating yourself up, then you burn out, but when you slow down and stay grounded, the body calms down, and the session becomes easier.

The other thing is patience, you do not need a perfect day to make progress, you need many normal days that stack up. Most people don't have a long term mindset and they feel rushed. after a few weeks the anxiety stops feeling like a huge thing, starts to feel more like background noise.

It gets easier when you have a longer term mindset and you chill for 5-10 mins when you arrive to the location, and immerse in the location