Managing our anxiety about terrorist attacks is hard. It's so abhorrent and baffling that it's difficult to get our minds around it. It's extremely upsetting. Terrorist attacks in Western countries like France and the United States are a very recent phenomenon. Here in the West, we're still adjusting to the fact that terrorism has become part of our experience, too. It's no longer something that only happens in far-away places that we've never heard of, or know very little about. As we're managing our own anxiety about terrorist attacks, we're also having to learn how to discuss war and terrorism with our children.

I've been reading the Debunking Addiction blog lately, and it's gotten me thinking about how my early sobriety triggered my anxiety. Early sobriety generally refers to the first year of not drinking after sobering up. My experience has been that early sobriety will trigger anxiety, especially if you already have an anxiety disorder, which I believe many problem drinkers do (Addiction and Mental Illness: The Struggle to Stay Sober and Sane).

Sleep deprivation can be a real danger to those of us with anxiety disorders, especially in the long term. Chronic lack of sleep has been linked to everything from poor concentration and being more prone to accidents, diabetes, heart disease, and early mortality. The irony is that mood disorders, like anxiety, increase sleep deprivation, which, in turn, increases anxiety. Here is some important information about the dangers of anxiety-related sleep deprivation, and some steps you can take to increase the quality of your sleep.

One important skill to acquire when you you have anxiety is learning how to avoid future-tripping. Future-tripping, also called anticipatory anxiety, is part of the human condition of peering into the imagined future and anticipating the outcome. Everyone does this to some degree or other. It's one of the blessings (or perhaps curses) of having a human brain with a frontal cortex. A person without an anxiety disorder may see a pleasant outcome, while an anxious person will likely imagine the worst outcome possible. The truth is, we don't know what's going to happen. That's why future-tripping when you have anxiety is a good thing to avoid.

Most people with anxiety need to find ways to lower their cortisol levels to lower their anxiety. Cortisol is a chemical produced by your adrenal glands. It's an important part of overall, robust health, because cortisol gives you the energy to face challenges and move past them. But, too much cortisol in your bloodstream causes and/or exacerbates anxiety, and can also wreak havoc on your health in lots of other ways. As part of self-help stress management, it's important to find ways to lower your overall cortisol levels. Lowering cortisol also lessens anxiety disorder symptoms.

It's no secret that managing anxiety in love relationships can be tricky. That's because nothing can trigger anxiety like the intimacy and vulnerability of a relationship. It takes a lot for an anxious person to risk having their anxiety seen by an intimate partner, and that's why it's crucial to have some ways to manage anxiety when you find yourself in a love relationship.

If you're an anxious person, working at a job that's anxiety-friendly can be a huge benefit to your life. So many people with anxiety disorders struggle with work because of the difficulty of social interaction and other job stressors. Work is anxiety-provoking for everybody to some degree, but, if you have anxiety, anxiety at work can be truly hellish. That's why it's important that us anxious types find jobs that take our anxiety into account. This week, we'll explore 10 of the most anxiety-friendly jobs out there.

In last week's post, I talked about some of the reasons why anxiety disorder makes you so tired. The sheer weight of the tiredness that often goes with anxiety disorder can be very discouraging, and solutions for that weariness can sometimes seem impossible. But, there are ways to manage it, that, while not a cure-all, can make living with the exhaustion of anxiety doable. This week, we'll talk about ways that you can manage your anxiety disorder exhaustion.

Years ago, a good friend of mine who also struggles with anxiety told me a story about how she sees her disorder. She said she visualizes her anxiety as the Incredible Hulk -- a 1000-pound green monster that, when it comes out, threatens to flatten her entire landscape. She said it can't be bargained with, and it can't be reasoned with. "But," she said, "it can be contained. I can keep it in check, and eventually put it back in its cage, but I have to be ready. That's why I always keep my emergency anxiety toolkit handy."

Planning for the future when you have anxiety can feel utterly impossible. The paralysis, chronic avoidance, and feelings of spinning craziness going on between your ears is something you have to experience for yourself to really understand. And while it's true the future is uncertain, part of being an adult means becoming reasonably proficient at anticipating and planning for the semi-predictable arcs of life: career, finances, health, family, and aging.