You will hear that "STRESS = Excitement!" and that can be true. You may have heard, "It is not STRESS that harms you but the way you react to it", and this also has an element of truth within it.

However, none of these types of statements are talking about long-term accumulated stress.

Using the BARREL analogy, it is as if we have a certain capacity for dealing with stress - our barrel - however, once the barrel is full, even a tiny drop of stress is enough to overwhelm us!

What fills up the barrel? Accumulated stress - maybe over decades - making us more susceptible to other stresses effecting us. We become more sensitive to more things. It's upsetting, because we think we are weak, ineffectual and broken. Nothing seems to help. Nothing based on willpower, that is - since we seem to have lost our willpower.

In a Mindfulness class, you will be told "the mind wasn't made to deal with stress and anxiety" - so no wonder you cannot 'problem solve' your way out. The same goes for willpower - it is the wrong tool for the job.

Unfortunately, many well-meaning people advocate using your willpower to get out of your funk - which simply makes us feel worse when we fail miserably to do it that way. But we can tell you - it was well-meaning, but inaccurate advice from someone who has not been given the tools to go beyond the use of willpower.

A Freedom Beyond Willpower coach, has the tools to give you affordable therapy for anxiety relief. You may be wondering, "How much will anxiety relief cost?"