Did you grow up as the emotional caretaker of one of your parents? If so, you might struggle with boundaries and have a hard time validating your own feelings and needs. Parentification is actually a direct pathway to enmeshment. Understanding this can greatly assist you in your healing journey. 7 steps to heal.

Do you feel other people's emotions so strongly that they become your focus? Do you find yourself not even aware of what your own emotions are? If you answered yes, you might be experiencing emotional enmeshment. This blog explains what enmeshment is, what problems it causes, and how you can heal emotional enmeshment.

Do you struggle to set boundaries? Here's the TOP TEN reasons people struggle - and what you can do about it!

An ultimatum might be a boundary that you're setting that has a very severe consequence that you intend to follow through with . Or an ultimatum might be a boundary that's combined with a threat . Understanding the distinction between boundaries, ultimatums, and threats can mean the difference between creating healthier relationships and inadvertently damaging them. Today's blog will help you understand when each approach is appropriate and how to navigate these challenging interpersonal dynamics. Understanding What Boundaries and Consequences Really Are You've probably heard that boundaries go with consequences. If we set a boundary, it usually has some type of consequence, and some of those consequences are very natural. There are natural consequences in terms of how we feel or what we might do. There are natural consequences on a relationship if somebody violates a boundary. We can also set a very specific consequence if a boundary is violated. But not all of those consequences have to be extreme. Not all of those consequences have to threaten the end of a relationship. The actual definition of a boundary is that it's a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something. Boundaries are really about your limits—your structures for navigating the world. They can be purely about yourself and your own self-care, or they can be about what behaviors in relationships you will accept, which ones you won't be happy with, and which ones you absolutely will not accept. Your boundaries reflect your values, your needs, and your wants. Importantly, the consequences that come with boundaries are also about you and for you. Our consequences don't always change the other person's behavior, no matter how much we want their behavior to change, and no matter how much their behavior should change. I think the difference between a boundary and an ultimatum will be clearer if you can really think about these in terms of them being for you, by you, about you , and about you in relationships . Consequences in Healthy Enough Relationships vs Toxic Relationships In healthy enough relationships, the natural consequences of boundary violations might be enough to maintain appropriate behavior patterns. In toxic relationships, stricter consequences are probably needed. And in truly intolerable situations, ultimatums might be needed. For example, i f you're in a relationship with someone who is abusive to you or somebody who lies to you all the time, the behavior and maybe even the relationship probably feel intolerable. In these situations, it is important not to threaten a severe consequence (eg the end of the relationship) unless you are ready to follow through on the consequence. IGenerally we feel ready to follow through with a severe consequence, when we are fully confident in our right to have this boundary, and we fully accept that we can't change the other person's behavior no matter how much you want to. The Problem with Threats In my 20 years working with people as a psychotherapist, what I observed—and I have certainly seen this in myself—is that we often use threats when we are exrtremely emotionally dysregulated. At these moments, we state what might sound like an ultimatum, and we might even believe at that moment that we will follow through with it. But when we've calmed down, all the problems of following through with that threat become clear and we back off. These threats can actually be very damaging both to ourselves and to the relationship. The definition of a threat is actually a statement of intention to harm the other person. We put threats out there when we're very hurt, angry, perhaps desperate. We desperately want the situation to change, but it's not a boundary, it's not an ultimatum, and it's definitely not a consequence for a boundary violation. Understanding Ultimatums: Final Demands The definition of an ultimatum is a final demand or final statement of what you need (or the negotiating party needs), and the rejection of that demand will end negotiations, It's essentially "THIS or no more discussion." If that's the case, make sure for yourself that you're okay with that outcome. Following through with an ultimatum might mean accepting a suboptimal outcome. It might not be the outcome you want, and that's why we often fall back into threatening and not following through. Avoid the Zero-to-Hundred Trap When you set consequences, it can be very helpful to start with natural and "in-between" consequences. I see so much online where people go from zero to a hundred—either you get walked all over or the other person has to do exactly what you want. Usually, there's something in between. There are smaller steps to take. Boundaries are not a means to control the other person; they are not a means to win a power struggle. Boundaries are meant to improve relationships if possible, and to keep you safe if it is not possible. Boundaries are about trying to make a relationship safe and appropriate for the roles of the people involved—keeping the level of intimacy and interaction appropriate to those roles. The Key Factor: Emotional Regulation The most crucial element in setting healthy boundaries—whether they're simple boundaries or more serious ultimatums—is your own emotional regulation. This is really the key to having healthy boundaries and knowing how to set them, express them, and enforce them. Most of the time, it's not about what information you need or what boundaries you should set. While confusion can certainly come up because boundary-setting can be very confusing in many situations, it's more about the emotional response we have when we go to set these boundaries and the emotional triggers that might make us not do that well or fold and not do it at all. I focus extensively on emotional regulation in my boundary program, along with how to set boundaries appropriately and enforce them effectively. The program addresses not just the mechanics of boundary-setting but the inner work needed to maintain them consistently. Information on the program is here: The Ultimate Boudary Course . Moving Forward with Clarity Understanding the difference between boundaries and ultimatums helps you approach relationship challenges more effectively: Remember, healthy boundary-setting is a skill that improves with practice and self-awareness. The goal isn't to control others but to create relationships that honor your values and needs while maintaining appropriate connection with others. I'd love to hear your thoughts on ultimatums versus boundaries. Do you have a specific example or question? Drop it in the comments below and I'll take a look—I might even create a video and blog about it.

When we start setting boundaries with family members, it can send shockwaves through the whole system. This blog describes the four areas necessary to set and hold effective boundaries with family.

The very actions that will free you from anxiety might make you feel worse, temporarily, before they make you feel better. This isn't often talked about, yet understanding this paradox could be the breakthrough you've been waiting for.

How Parentification Creates Adult Anxiety (And How to Heal) If you grew up parentified, you most likely experience a fairly high degree of anxiety as an adult. This connection exists because parentified children are trained from a very young age to take care of other people's emotional needs—an impossible task—and often to handle household responsibilities that are far beyond their developmental capacity. Being responsible for things that are beyond your ability creates a perfect storm for anxiety, both in childhood and adulthood. At its core, anxiety involves trying to control the uncontrollable. When we attempt to manage things we're powerless over—especially other people's emotions—we set ourselves up for chronic anxiety. This is a complex topic, and I'll explore it more deeply as we go. Core Characteristics of Parentified Adults Most people who grew up parentified share certain characteristics. While these traits can have positive aspects, they also create a foundation for persistent anxiety. Let's examine these patterns: **Chronically Overcommitted** Growing up, you had too much on your plate, and these patterns persist into adulthood until we actively work to heal them. As adults, we continue to take on more than we can reasonably handle. Being chronically overcommitted leads to overwhelm, constant stress, and persistent anxious feelings. **Difficulty Relying on Others** People who grew up parentified struggle to depend on others. As children, they learned they couldn't trust others to handle important responsibilities—they could only rely on themselves. This becomes an ingrained pattern that follows you into adulthood. While developing strong self-reliance can be positive in many ways, extreme self-reliance creates unbalanced relationships. The healthiest relationships involve interdependence—sometimes we depend on others, and sometimes they depend on us. There's a natural give-and-take. When we resist relying on anyone else, we prevent this healthy interdependence from developing. This leaves us without adequate support, which increases anxiety. Everything feels like it rests on our shoulders, and we end up believing that other people's behaviors and problems are our responsibility to manage. Reframing Your Childhood Experience In my 20 years of working with clients as a therapist, I often heard, "But I was the most capable person in my family. I was the only one I could rely on." You probably were the only reliable person in that family system. Learning to depend on others as an adult will be challenging, but it's absolutely worth the effort. However, believing you were the most capable and intelligent family member likely reflects seeing yourself through your parent's eyes. Your caregiver(s) viewed you as the most capable and you internalized that perspective. You are most likely not viewing the experience through a child's lens. From a child's perspective, while you may have gained some self-esteem from taking care of others, you were also carrying an enormous burden far beyond your years. This responsibility limited your ability to play, prevented you from being carefree, and kept you constantly focused on what you needed to accomplish for others. All of these factors contribute significantly to anxiety. How to Heal Your Anxiety from Parentification While standard anxiety reduction techniques can certainly help, I believe you'll find it very difficult to fully recover from this type of anxiety unless you address the root cause of parentification and understand how it has shaped you. ** 1. Identify Your Negative Core Beliefs ** The first step toward healing involves understanding what negative core beliefs you developed as a result of parentification. The most common belief is: **"My needs don't matter as much as everyone else's needs."** If you were emotionally parentified, you learned very early that your parent's emotions (or perhaps both parents', or even the entire family's emotional state) took priority over whatever you were feeling. So the belief of "My emotions don't matter" is also likely to resonate. Other common core beliefs include: - "I can't trust others" - "I can't rely on anyone but myself" Before healing can happen and before meaningful changes can be made to your habitual patterns, you must genuinely believe that your needs matter. {I've created a free PDF that helps you identify your specific negative core beliefs and provides practical methods for transforming them. You can access it by clicking here .} You'll need a deep conviction that your needs matter to successfully implement the following steps and change your patterns of worrying about things beyond your control. ** 2. Accept Your Powerlessness Over Others ** I understand that the concept of powerlessness frightens many people. Many people have an immediate reaction of, "No way, I don't want to admit I'm powerless!" However, accepting reality is super helpful in many ways! We are completely powerless over the weather (at least immediate weather conditions, not commenting on climate change). We are equally powerless over other people's emotions. While we can influence others' emotions and certainly offer help, we cannot control how others feel or respond. Consider this example: If a child grows up feeling responsible for preventing their mother's depression, they might occasionally succeed in cheering her up or motivating her to take care of responsibilities. These small victories feel incredibly reinforcing. However, the child cannot cure their mother's clinical depression. The same principle applies to a parent with addiction or an anger problem. A child might sometimes prevent dad from losing his temper or temporarily stop a family member from using substances, but ultimately, controlling someone else's temper or addiction is impossible. When we truly accept that something is impossible, this acceptance becomes profoundly liberating. It can bring enourmous relief to admit to oneself, "I really can't control this outcome, so I don't need to exhaust myself trying!" ** Creating Emotional Boundaries ** For people who still feel responsible for managing others' emotions, I recommend visualizing your emotions as existing within a bubble around you, while the other person's emotions exist within their own separate bubble. I've developed a guided meditation on this concept, and I explore it extensively in my boundary program (Click here for the Ultimate Boundary Course ). This work helps you develop a solid sense of your emotional boundaries—understanding where they begin and end, and clarifying what you are and aren't responsible for managing. **3. Release Attachment to Outcomes You Cannot Control** The third step involves letting go of excessive attachment to results that lie outside your control. Typically, people become most attached to outcomes involving family members with self-destructive behaviors. I completely understand the desire to help and make a positive difference. However, if you believe you're responsible for someone else's choices and behaviors, you'll remain trapped in anxiety because you'll continuously attempt to control something that someone else actually controls. Other adults have agency over their own behavior, whether that leads to positive or negative consequences. Real-World Examples Let me illustrate how these three principles work together with concrete examples: **Example 1: Your Young Adult Child's Career Choices** Imagine you're a parent whose young adult child is pursuing what you consider a disastrous career path. You believe they won't be able to support themselves financially, and you desperately want them to choose a different professional direction. You spend enormous mental energy strategizing how to convince them to change course. This constant worry is probably damaging your relationship because your young adult wants autonomy over their decisions, while you're consumed with fear about their future. Your motivation stems from genuine care, but it's manifesting as anxiety and attempts to control something beyond your influence. **Example 2: A Friend in What You Perceive as an Abusive Relationship** Another common scenario involves a friend who remains in what you believe is an abusive relationship, and you feel an urgency to help them recognize this. Speaking up and sharing your observations is appropriate and caring. However, if you become convinced that it's your responsibility to ensure they leave this relationship, you'll experience tremendous anxiety trying to control someone else's major life decisions while potentially damaging your friendship. These situations are genuinely difficult. When we witness someone making choices that appear destructive, stepping back feels almost impossible. The Healing Paradox: Embracing a Temporary Increase in Anxiety...! Here's a crucial aspect of healing that many people don't anticipate: as you begin changing your behaviors and establishing healthier boundaries, your anxiety will temporarily increase. Currently, your anxiety drives you to worry about others and intervene (or desperately want to intervene) or obsessively analyze their situations. Your anxiety is the engine behind these behaviors. This anxiety drives your actions. These actions reinforce the anxiety. Examples of the actions that come from "parentification-based" anxiety could be: researching someone else's problem extensively, taking care of what they should be taking care of as an independent adult, lecturing and continually bringing up your opinion about what they should do, etc. Changing these behaviors and restraining from interventions will be needed in order to lower your anxiety in the long run. However, restraining from these familiar responses will initially heighten your anxiety. Learning to tolerate this temporary spike in anxious feelings is essential for changing your behavioral patterns, which is what ultimately transforms this entire cycle. Your Roadmap to Freedom Here are the essential steps for healing anxiety rooted in parentification: 1. **Understand how parentification affected you** and identify the negative core beliefs that developed as a result, then begin the work of healing those beliefs 2. **Accept your powerlessness over others** and develop clear emotional boundaries 3. **Release attachment to outcomes** involving other people's behaviors and choices 4. **Prepare for and tolerate the temporary anxiety increase** that occurs when you stop trying to control others—and learn to sit with this discomfort Remember, if you grew up parentified, these patterns developed as survival mechanisms. They served an important purpose in your childhood environment, but they no longer serve your well-being as an adult. With understanding, patience, and the right tools, you can heal from this anxiety and build healthier, more balanced relationships. Healing from parentification requires time and often benefits significantly from professional support. Please be patient and compassionate with yourself as you learn to prioritize your own needs and trust others to manage their own lives. I'd love to hear whether this information resonates with your experience and what insights emerged for you. If you found this helpful, please share it with others who might benefit from understanding this important connection between childhood parentification and adult anxiety.

You might be walking along, not thinking about anything that would make you anxious, when all of a sudden you're filled with anxious feelings. There's a reason this happens, and I'm going to share it with you today. Understanding subconscious triggers can help you understand yourself and calm your anxiety. The Frustrating Reality of Somatic Anxiety We're often told that anxiety starts with thinking, with our cognitions. People or doctors will say, "You must have been thinking about something that made you anxious. There must be something happening in your life that makes you anxious." This can be incredibly frustrating and invalidating for people who experience somatic anxiety—anxiety that manifests in the body. Very often, people who experience anxiety this way become frustrated because the anxiety management tools shared by therapists, doctors, YouTubers, and friends don't relate to their experience. In this blog, I'll help you make the connection between how you experience anxiety and how these tools actually can help you, when applied correctly. Understanding Subconscious Memories Very intense experiences become linked in our memory bank with the physiological feelings we experienced at the time. This can happen with positive memories and with very negative and upsetting memories. Our hippocampus, one of the key parts of our brain that handles memory, encodes our memories with sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes—but not always with a complete "story" of the event. Positive Memory Links On the positive side, there might be a particular smell—like cinnamon or something your grandmother cooked—that brings you a lot of pleasure. Or it could be the way the landscape feels and smells during the first snow. You might have many positive memories, and when those sensory elements recur, you feel that positive response. Sometimes this links to an something you do remember, but not always. Traumatic Memory Links With traumatic memories, these links can be formed in a very intense way. For both major traumas and smaller traumas, we can have encoded memories that don't reach our conscious mind, but these memories are encoded with the physiological feelings of the experience. When these physiological responses are triggered, they can feel completely out of your control, making you feel powerless to stop or change the feelings. The intensity of the link between sensory information and emotional response is related to the intensity of the initial trigger event. The link is also strengthened each time you experience the trigger. Preverbal memories can also be encoded this way and trigger these feelings. However, the practices needed to calm these responses is the same whether the initial experience is conscious, subconscious or preverbal.

Physical Symptoms of Anxiety: Understanding Your Body's Response If you're experiencing physical symptoms from anxiety, these can be very strong and very scary. You're probably wondering: could these really be anxiety? Maybe you weren't particularly worried and you're still having these very strong physical reactions. Or perhaps you weren't worrying at all and the physical reactions just hit you out of the blue. This can be very confusing, and many people wonder: is this anxiety or is it something else? In this article, I'm going to cover physical symptoms of anxiety in detail, explain why your body responds this way (understanding this can really help you calm yourself about the symptoms you're having), and discuss what you can do about it. First Things First: See a Doctor If you're having serious symptoms, you always want to see a doctor and get everything checked out. There are a number of conditions that can look similar to anxiety symptoms. However, if you've been given a clean bill of health, this blog will help you understand why these symptoms arise from anxiety and confirm that they are from anxiety! Now, I want to reiterate: **anxiety is not all in your head.** Even if a doctor says there's "nothing wrong with you and these symptoms are anxiety," know that anxiety does cause real physical symptoms . They are uncomfortable, they can be very scary, and they are real. You are really physically feeling something. How Anxiety Affects Your Entire Body Anxiety can impact almost every one of our major physiological systems. Anxiety can impact our: - Cardiovascular system - Respiratory system - Gastrointestinal system - Muscular skeletal system - Other parts of our nervous system Cardiovascular Symptoms include: - Increased heart rate - Pounding heart or racing heart - Palpitations (sometimes fluttering or a skipped beat) - Chest pain - Lightheadedness or dizziness - Feeling faint or unsteady As I mentioned earlier, if you're having these symptoms, have them checked out by a doctor. However, if they're tied to anxiety, you can then begin to treat them as anxiety. Gastrointestinal Symptoms include: - Difficulty swallowing - Change in appetite (some people when they get very anxious can't eat at all, while other people just want to do nothing but eat - it really can impact you either way) - Upset stomach - Nausea - Diarrhea - Other digestive problems - Constipation Respiratory Symptoms include: - Shortness of breath - Hyperventilation Muscular Skeletal Symptoms include: - Muscle tension (very common) - Tremors or shaking - Tics (for example, a little pulse in your eye, which is pretty common, or in your hand - it can happen in different places) - Headaches (very common with anxiety) - Muscle aches, pains, and cramps Other Symptoms include: - Numbness or tingling in your extremities - Sweating - Dry mouth - Fatigue - Insomnia You can really see how the physical symptoms of anxiety can impact your whole body. Understanding the Adrenaline and Cortisol Cycle Let me explain briefly about the adrenaline and cortisol cycle, because all of these symptoms actually have a common cause when they're caused by anxiety. When you have a stressor, your adrenaline begins to spike. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - if you have a saber tooth tiger you need to run away from, you want your adrenaline to kick in. Sometimes a small amount of adrenaline can be motivating to study for an exam, prepare for a big work meeting, or motivate yourself to get off the couch and do what you need to do. A certain amount of adrenaline helps us get up in the morning, so a little bit can be helpful. Too much can be problematic. When adrenaline kicks in, shortly thereafter a hormone called cortisol kicks in and begins to rise. As cortisol peaks, the adrenaline starts to drop. So the cycle goes: stressor → adrenaline goes up → cortisol goes up → then they both drop, hopefully followed by a period with no stressors. When another stressor hits, it happens again. Our bodies are built to deal with this. If your stressors are happening and your adrenaline is spiking once in a while, often you won't have major physical symptoms. However, if you have continual stressors, how you manage your stressors will impact this cycle as well. And this is not to minimize stressors. Some are very serious, some can be minor. The more you can make sure you aren't overreacting to the minor stressors, the more energy and wherewithall you will have to deal with the serious ones. And many serious ones require planning, which is more effective when you are not in the middle of an adrenaline-cortisol spike. If we respond to minor stressors with a lot of anxiety and worry (which is really what an anxiety disorder is), we're continually responding to every stressor, whether it's big or not, with adrenaline. Then cortisol kicks in. With continual stressors and the way we respond, the cortisol never gets a chance to come down. Cortisol can remain elevated chronically on an ongoing basis, and that has actually been implicated in a number of major diseases. I'm not saying this to frighten you, but to give you motivation that you can have agency over your anxiety. Anxiety is very treatable . When I worked with people as a therapist for over 20 years, working with anxiety was very satisfying for me as a therapist, and it was satisfying for the client because people could make major progress. So I want to give you that hope. The Health Impact of Chronic Stress: Continually elevated cortisol levels are tied to: - Diabetes - Osteoporosis - Cardiovascular disease - Weakened immune system - High blood pressure - Impact on sexual desire and libido - Reproductive functions Why This Happens: Your Body's Design Your body is designed to deal with dangerous situations. Our brains evolved this way. We have an amygdala and a fight, flight, and freeze response. If we're actually being chased by a dinosaur or a scary dog, we're designed so that our fear response will kick in: - Our adrenaline will spike - Our muscles will tense - Our heart rate goes up - We have digestive issues (you don't need to be digesting your food if you're being chased by a wild animal - you need to not digest that food and just run) - We get a very single-minded focus I want to come back to that single-minded focus because I think it's quite important and we don't always talk about that being an impact of this fear response. We need this fear response - we want it in some situations. The problem is when we think about that dinosaur, when we think about that scary thing happening, our body has the same response. Simply thinking about being attacked by whatever the danger is produces the same response: our adrenaline spikes, our muscles tense, our heart rate goes up, we have digestive issues, we get a single-minded focus. That single-minded focus is problematic because most of the problems we face today really need our whole brain online. We need to be able to think creatively, pull in solutions, and be aware of what we can do right now and what we want to do to be prepared to face problems in the future. You want the whole brain working, not just that overactive amygdala, and you want to be thinking creatively. That's not what happens when you have to run away from a wild animal. How All Physical Symptoms Connect All the physical symptoms of anxiety have a common thread - they can all be tied to a fight, flight, or freeze response: - Your inability to swallow or eat: if you have to fight, flee, or freeze, you're not eating a meal - Digestive issues: if you have to fight, flee, or freeze, you're not digesting your food - in fact, the opposite - Constipation can be tied to the fight or flight response - Diarrhea is more tied to the freeze response The freeze response kicks in when we can't fight and we can't flee. You'll see this with animals - if an animal is being attacked by a larger animal and can't run away, it will go into a freeze state. A number of symptoms that you might not think were anxiety-related are actually freeze state related, such as dizziness, lightheadedness, and passing out. The opposite - heart rate going way up and heart palpitations - is part of the fight or flight response. What You Can Do About This **Identify Your Symptoms as Anxiety** If you've had everything checked out and you are having these symptoms, or if you know that these are tied to anxiety, you can begin to treat them that way. As you begin to try to relax your physiological being, you will probably see an improvement in your symptoms. Treating the symptoms as anxiety allows you to take care of them, and then they won't be making you more anxious. You won't be worrying about the symptoms, which is what tends to happen and why they tend to worsen your anxiety cycle. **Practice Healthy Relaxation Techniques** Practice techniques that help you relax in a healthy way. This does not include things like alcohol or benzodiazepines - those have a biphasic impact. They might give you a feeling of relaxation, but when their half-life is through and they're processing through your body, they leave you more anxious than you were before. They have two phases and aren't going to help you get over anxiety in the long run. Instead, focus on techniques like: - Yoga - Diaphragmatic breathing - Progressive muscle relaxation - Grounding techniques - Mindfulness practices All of these can help you be here now and pull your mind back away from all the projected problems. Even if your anxiety is hitting you physically, it's going into a cycle where you begin to worry about the physical symptoms. Understanding Your Anxiety Cycle Whether your anxiety starts with thoughts or physical feelings, it creates a cycle. If you start with physical feelings, you might say, "Well, I didn't have a story. There wasn't something I was worried about. I just got hit with these physiological feelings." But then because you were hit by them, you started to worry. That's where your cycle starts. Whether it starts with thoughts or physical feelings doesn't matter in terms of how you approach healing - if it starts with physical feelings, you need to help it not lead into worry about those physical symptoms. I think that's one reason to understand that these symptoms could actually be anxiety. If they are, you don't have to worry about them - you have to calm yourself. The anxiety cycle can start in two fairly typical ways: 1. **External Problem Starting Point**: There's some kind of external problem and our minds jump into trying to figure that problem out. We jump into the future and might catastrophize. 2. **Sensory Event Starting Point**: There's some kind of sensory event (sometimes below your awareness - it could be a smell or something you weren't even aware of) that causes a physiological reaction. That anxiety makes you think, "I'm feeling anxious, there must be something I should worry about." Then you jump into the cycle of wondering what you have to worry about, or your mind goes through all your problems. Wherever it starts, it goes into this entire cycle: anxious feelings lead to anxious thoughts or increase the ones you're having already. They also lead to anxious behaviors (which can be either compulsive or avoidant). Both anxious thoughts and anxious behaviors then increase those physiological and emotional feelings of anxiety. It's really key to understand your cycle - your anxiety cycle - where it starts, where it goes, how it works, and how you can learn to interrupt it. Looking Ahead This video is part of a three-part series. Next week, I'll be releasing a video about anxiety when there is no story - for people who feel anxious but can't identify what they're worried about. We'll talk about how our past experiences get linked deep in the brain, creating connections between certain sensory information and emotional responses. This link can be either positive or negative and can often be the trigger for anxious physical symptoms, sometimes out of your conscious awareness. **Remember: anxiety is very treatable.** You can definitely make improvement and lower your anxiety. If you're getting value from this information, please share it with others who might benefit. Let me know what you thought of this article and whether it was helpful. Understanding that your physical symptoms might be anxiety-related is the first step toward managing them effectively and breaking the cycle that keeps you stuck.