Understanding Anxiety: When Your Nervous System Won’t Power Down
Anxiety can feel like your brain and body are constantly on high alert. Your thoughts race ahead to worst-case scenarios, your body reacts as if something is wrong, and even ordinary moments can feel tense, urgent, or overwhelming.
I provide online anxiety therapy for adults using evidence-based approaches to help calm the nervous system, reduce overthinking, and build confidence in your ability to handle uncertainty. I work with adults across Wisconsin, Illinois, and Nebraska who are struggling with chronic worry, panic, avoidance, and anxiety that feels hard to shut off.
Anxiety has a way of convincing you that if you stay alert enough, prepared enough, or careful enough, you’ll finally feel safe.
Here’s the part I want you to hear. You’re not weak. Your nervous system is just stuck in overdrive.
What Anxiety Really Feels Like Day to Day
Anxiety isn’t just “being stressed” or worrying too much. It’s a pattern where your nervous system reacts as if danger is nearby, even when there isn’t a clear threat.
It can show up as racing thoughts, physical tension, restlessness, trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, or a constant sense that something bad might happen. For many people, anxiety feels unpredictable and exhausting, especially when it seems to come out of nowhere.
Common Ways Anxiety Shows Up
Anxiety can look different from person to person, but many adults experience things like:
Constant worrying or overthinking
Panic attacks or sudden waves of fear
Physical symptoms like a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, or nausea
Avoiding situations, decisions, or conversations “just in case”
Reassurance seeking or mentally replaying scenarios
Feeling on edge, irritable, or unable to relax
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Many adults I work with describe feeling stuck in their heads, constantly scanning for what might go wrong. That’s not a personal flaw — it’s how an anxious nervous system tries to protect you.
Anxiety Is Not Just “Stress” or “Overreacting”
Let’s clear this up.
Anxiety isn’t a lack of willpower, positivity, or coping skills. And it’s not something you should be able to “logic your way out of.”
Anxiety is a real, physical and emotional response that can affect sleep, relationships, work, health, and your ability to feel present in your own life.
If you’ve ever wondered:
Why can’t I calm down even when I know I’m safe?
Why does my body react before my brain catches up?
Why does everything feel urgent all the time?
You’re in the right place.
Why Anxiety Feels So Persistent
Anxiety is driven by the belief that staying alert will prevent something bad from happening. Your brain learns to treat uncertainty as dangerous and pushes you to analyze, prepare, or avoid at all costs.
The problem is that the more you try to eliminate uncertainty or control every possible outcome, the more anxious your system becomes. Anxiety doesn’t respond well to reassurance or overthinking — it tends to grow louder the more attention it gets.
The Good News
Anxiety is very treatable, and you don’t have to manage it on your own.
I provide anxiety therapy for adults using evidence-based approaches, including CBT, ACT, and compassion-focused strategies. Therapy focuses on helping your nervous system settle, changing unhelpful thought patterns, and building trust in your ability to handle discomfort without spiraling.
You don’t need to eliminate anxiety completely to feel better. You can learn how to respond differently when anxiety shows up, so it no longer runs your life.
If you’re in Wisconsin, Illinois, or Nebraska and looking for online anxiety therapy, I can help.
How Anxiety Therapy Helps
Anxiety therapy helps you understand how your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations interact — and how to interrupt patterns that keep anxiety going.
Rather than trying to get rid of anxious thoughts or force yourself to calm down, therapy helps you learn how to relate to anxiety differently. Over time, this reduces intensity, frequency, and the amount of control anxiety has over your decisions.
In therapy, we work together to:
Identify patterns that fuel anxiety and overthinking
Understand how your nervous system responds to perceived threat
Reduce avoidance and safety behaviors that reinforce fear
Practice responding to anxiety without spiraling or shutting down
Build tolerance for uncertainty and uncomfortable sensations
Strengthen confidence in your ability to cope
Therapy is collaborative and paced. We focus on progress, not perfection.
What Therapy for Anxiety Is Not
Anxiety therapy is not about telling you to “just relax,” “think positive,” or ignore how you feel.
It’s not about forcing you into situations you’re not ready for or pushing you past your limits. And it’s not about convincing you that your fears are irrational.
Instead, therapy respects how real anxiety feels while helping you build skills to respond in ways that actually work.
What to Expect in Anxiety Therapy
Anxiety therapy isn’t about fixing you. It’s about understanding what your nervous system has learned and helping it learn something new.
We’ll start by talking about how anxiety shows up in your life, what triggers it, and what you’ve already tried. You don’t need to have the right words or a perfect explanation — we figure it out together.
From there, we’ll create a personalized plan using evidence-based tools. Sessions are structured but flexible, and we move at a pace that feels challenging but manageable.
In sessions, you can expect:
A supportive, non-judgmental space
Clear explanations so anxiety starts to make sense
Practical tools you can use in real life
Help reducing overthinking, avoidance, and reassurance seeking
Ongoing adjustments as your needs change
Between sessions, you may practice small, intentional exercises designed to help you apply what you’re learning outside of therapy. Progress is about learning and experimenting, not doing things perfectly.
Over time, many people notice that anxiety takes up less space, decisions feel easier, and their world starts to feel bigger again.
Anxiety can show up in different ways. Some people experience panic attacks, others struggle with social anxiety, and some notice fear tied to specific situations or triggers. Therapy can be tailored to how anxiety shows up for you.
You Deserve Relief
If anxiety has been running your life, I’m here to help you take that space back.
Together, we’ll work toward reducing anxiety in a way that feels supportive, realistic, and sustainable — so you can reconnect with the parts of your life that matter most to you.
You don’t have to stay stuck in overthinking mode. You don’t have to keep living in constant alert. You deserve support that actually works.
If you’re ready to get started with anxiety therapy or want to see what working together might feel like, you can schedule a free 15-minute consultation. I’d love to meet you.