Breaking down the 3 stressors (pathways) that trigger anxiety...

...and why you need to know them.

My biggest frustration with our current mental health narrative (and why so many people struggle to find freedom from their anxiety) is that there’s only one narrative for anxiety, and that narrative is…

Anxiety is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain that can only be improved through medication management.

False!

I’ve spent years swimming in anxiety research, and I want to change that narrative.

If you didn’t read the post where I wrote about what anxiety is and isn’t, read it here.

For the short version of what anxiety is, anxiety is a nervous system energy (mobilized energy) designed to help you take action (fight-or-flight) in a dangerous situation. It’s nothing more than a sympathetic response to a potential danger.

It’s also a cool word to describe the physical sensations that pop up when you shift into a sympathetic state.

See why the current narrative pisses me off?! At no point did I mention a lack of or abundance of chemicals.

So now that you know what anxiety is, let’s talk about what triggers a sympathetic response in your body (aka what triggers anxiety).

I believe that anxiety can be ignited by three different stressors.

• Mental stressors

• External stressors

• Internal stressors

Let’s break each one down.