Learn to beat anxiety from someone who has actually done it

The Anxiety Guy is Dennis Simsek, a self-described life coach. Simsek’s approach is to focus on the outcome and results of his interventions, rather than using clinical therapy where you just talk all day and get nowhere. I’ve tried the latter approach. Sitting and probing the recesses of my mind was neither entertaining nor effective.

Simsek does away with all of that inner searching in his audio course, “How Long Days and Insomnia Affect Your Mental Health.” Almost every section contains a list either of issues people with anxiety issues confront, or of strategies for conquering those issues. Now, to be sure, not every solution works for all anxiety symptoms, but the points that hit home for me did so impressively.

For example, in the section on mental health myths, Simsek makes a point about how people with anxiety issues are often misconstrued as being antisocial. Of course, I’ve known all along that I am anything but antisocial. I love my friends, and I care about them deeply. But when I’m around people, even the ones I love, sometimes the wiring in my brain goes haywire. We’re talking heart-pounding, sweat-pouring levels of stress here.

Now, developing an understanding of my anxiety issues obviously doesn’t make them go away. But learning to desensitize myself to the specific fears that instigate my panic attacks in the first place is proving helpful. It is reducing my fear of my fears. The triggers are becoming fewer and less frightening now.

The same is true for the section on how sleep affects anxiety levels. I’ve always fought insomnia. I lay awake in bed, my wife sleeping peacefully beside me. A clock she can’t hear ticks so loudly that I can feel the sound in my skull. As daybreak inches closer, I used to wonder if it was worth sleeping for just a few hours. Sometimes I drift off, but often I stay up. Those are the worst days, and the makeup sleep the next day can be 12 to 18 hours.

Thanks to Simsek, I now get up out of bed when these episodes occur. I go watch some TV in the living room or step outside and look at the stars. When I get tired again, I go lay down and drift off more quickly. I’m now convinced that I am always better off sleeping less than not at all. My anxiety about getting no sleep is waning, and my sleep is improving as the cycle seems to be breaking.

I’m still working my way through this course. There is a lot of information to digest, and there have been quite a few epiphanies already. When they happen, I can’t fight the urge to stop listening and to really absorb what he is saying. It feels like he’s conquered the same demons that I’ve been fighting most of my life. That’s a skill that few people possess, life coach or otherwise.

Listen to How Long Days and Insomnia Affect Your Mental Health and more self-improvement audio programs on Audiojoy — download free on iOS or Android.

 

Content Review by Madeleine Kemp