Coping With Paralyzing Anxiety

“I feel paralyzed with anxiety.” You feel like you’re frozen in time and of course you can’t breath. “Is this how I’m going to die,” you ask God? I know I’m not the only one out there who asks this question. Basically, my paralyzing anxiety comes when I least expect it. Therefore, I could be having a “normal” day and BAM, all of a sudden I can’t breath and the world is getting smaller and smaller. Within approximately 20 seconds, I finally come out of it, but the affect is still there. Gee, can’t wait until the next attack.

Why is my body reacting in the “fight or flight” mode when there is no danger? I was just sitting there! Then you begin to wonder, “am I going to make it through the next one?” Has anybody that you’ve known ever died from paralyzing anxiety? The experts say you always come out of them, but is that the truth? All things considered, it sure doestn’t feel like it because they are getting progressively worse.

When faced with perceived threats, the body reacts by entering a state of heightened arousal, commonly known as the ‘fight or flight’ response. In certain cases, anxiety can become so intense that it leads to a ‘freeze’ response. Therefore, this state can cause a person to feel temporarily ‘paralyzed’, unable to move or react.

Task Paralysis Anxiety

Consequently, anxiety often brings physical symptoms like a racing heart, sweaty palms, and muscle tension, making it challenging to start and complete tasks. Another key point, this anxiety-driven task paralysis is a natural response to stress but can be managed with self-awareness and the right coping strategies.

Also, in today’s digital age, scrolling paralysis has emerged as a unique and modern challenge. All in all, It’s that familiar feeling of endlessly scrolling through social media feeds, news articles, or online content without a clear purpose or end in sight. This phenomenon can be attributed to the constant stream of information and distractions available at our fingertips.

As a matter of fact, scrolling paralysis can rob us of precious time and hinder productivity, as hours slip away while we mindlessly swipe or scroll. It’s essential to recognize this behavior and take steps to manage it by setting limits, embracing digital detoxes. Also, practicing mindfulness to regain control over our online habits and refocus on more meaningful pursuits.

Subsequently, here are nine tips to overcome task paralysis:

Baby Steps: Divide Tasks into Smaller Chunks
Prioritization: Focus on What Truly Matters
Realistic Goals: Set Achievable Targets
Mindfulness: Stay Present
Positive Reinforcement: Reward Yourself
Accountability: Seek Support
Embrace Imperfection: Done is better than Perfect
Celebrate Progress: Pat Yourself on the Back
Self-Compassion: Be Kind to Yourself

“You are only as free as you think you are and freedom will always be as real as you believe it to be.”― Robert M. Drake, Beautiful Chaos

Anxiety Paralysis Symptoms

Generally, when experiencing paralyzing anxiety, it can be common to have negative thought patterns and behaviors that worsen the symptoms. Catastrophic thinking, for example, is typically when individuals imagine the worst possible outcome of a situation. Hence, this can lead to feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope with daily life. Individuals may also go to great lengths to avoid situations that trigger their anxiety, potentially leading to a cycle of avoidance that may worsen anxiety symptoms and disrupt daily life.

At length, anxiety symptoms can vary depending on the individual, but the common denominator is that the symptoms completely overwhelm the person. Even more, paralyzing anxiety symptoms are invasive and debilitating but temporary. Once the threat has passed, it takes between 20 and 60 minutes for the body to return to its normal state.

Henceforth, symptoms of paralyzing anxiety may include:

First of all, feelings of fear, worry, panic, anxiety, or impending doom
Difficulty moving parts of your body or complete immobilization
Difficulty thinking, making decisions, and speaking
Increased heart rate
Shallow and rapid breath
Persistent negative thoughts
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Face tingling
Nausea
Avoidance behaviors
Shaking, tingling, or numbness in limbs
Lastly, muscle tension

Panic Attack Paralyzed

At the same time, while the experience can differ somewhat from one person to the next, the physical symptoms you experience when you feel paralyzed with anxiety can be particularly disconcerting.

“At any rate, anxiety can cause multiple physical symptoms, and one of them is the sensation of being unable to move physically, to the extent where you feel like you cannot walk or move your arms and legs.”— Paula Zimbrean, MD, Yale Medicine

As I have noted, you may experience physically paralyzing anxiety in the wake of a clear stressor, a major life change, a disaster, or a traumatic event. However, it can sometimes occur without you being aware of the cause.

“Being able to depend on someone doesn’t mean you’re dependent on them.”― Sarah Rees Brennan, Untold

Paralyzed by Anxiety at Work

By the same token, workload paralysis can be defined as feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do. By and large, it figuratively paralyzes you with fear and makes you unable to do anything at all. Even small and insignificant tasks seem difficult.

This feeling kills motivation and blocks out your inner resources, instead of accumulating efforts to actually solve issues. As a result, you procrastinate, and your tasks pile up. Work still needs to be done, but time is flying, and you’re feeling even worse – stressed, exhausted, and guilty.

On the other hand, workload paralysis can be caused by a variety of factors, and these factors are often interdependent. One issue often leads to another one, creating a chain reaction.

We can roughly divide the causes of workload paralysis into two groups:

Health-related reasons. Even more, a lack of sleep or insomnia, poor diet, and insufficient physical exercise directly affect our cognitive ability (which is so important for knowledge work), let alone the physical condition of our body. When your energy level is so low, you cannot be productive. And when you’re not productive, you don’t meet deadlines, you don’t achieve goals, and the quality of your work drops.

Heavy workload. Coupled with having to deal with difficult tasks, make decisions, and take responsibility can cause high levels of stress and lead to work paralysis.

Physically Paralyzed by Anxiety

“In any case, the danger feels so high, it goes beyond our capacity to tolerate stress, so it’s like our nervous system goes offline or shuts off. We’re able to survive but not fully function. In brief, it’s the equivalent to playing dead in the animal world,” explains Gaby Balsells, a clinical psychologist in Stamford, Connecticut.

From time to time, anxiety can seemingly paralyze different parts of your body, including:

Arms: heaviness, inability to move them
Legs: stuck in place, inability to walk away
Speech: going mute, difficulty finding words
Cognition: inability to process incoming information

“Don’t get too deep, it leads to over thinking, and over thinking leads to problems that doesn’t even exist in the first place.”― Jayson Engay

Coping With Paralyzing Anxiety

 Diaphragmatic Breathing

Deep belly breathing engages your parasympathetic nervous system, also known as your rest-and-digest state. Therefore, you may find it helpful to try box breathing, says Victoria Smith, a licensed clinical social worker in El Segundo, California.

It works like this:

inhale for 4
hold for 4
exhale for 4
hold for 4

“In addition, our breath is the most direct tool to connecting with our nervous system.

 Grounding Exercises

In any event, a few grounding exercises may feel useful, including the 5-4-3-2-1 technique.

Try to name:

5 things you can see
4 things you can feel
3 things you can hear
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste

 Bilateral Stimulation

Overall, tapping exercises may help calm your nervous system, says Smith. This engages both sides of your brain, called bilateral stimulation.

“Given that, place your left hand on your right shoulder and right hand on your left shoulder, and slowly alternate tapping each hand. Notice the sensations in your body, and practice tapping until you feel more grounded,” she explains.

Conclusion

Consequently, anxiety attack paralysis is very real even though it only lasts for a few minutes. If you’re feeling paralyzed by anxiety, don’t panic, it’s just temporary.

In particular, people that struggle with paralyzing anxiety but also witness them finding relief from their symptoms and experiencing control in their daily lives. Therefore, if you have experienced paralyzing anxiety, I want you to know that you are not alone, nothing is wrong with you. Although we are wired to experience anxiety, there are strategies to help your body move into a state of calm and safety so you can enjoy life to the fullest.

In reality, paralyzing anxiety also impacts a person’s mental and emotional health because the frozen emotional state impairs a person’s ability to access, process, and regulate emotions. In short, paralyzing anxiety puts the body in survival mode, only focusing on what is essential. Processing emotions are essential for a person’s well-being but not for their immediate survival, and as a result, the processing of emotions gets inhibited.

Well, I’m finished for the day. I hope you enjoy your day or evening and I will see you in the next post. Until next time…