Is it okay to avoid situations that make me anxious, or is that giving up to it?

I think it's really important to protect yourself - avoiding situations that make you anxious or upset you is not weak or 'giving up', it's self care. Looking after yourself is the first step to happiness and sometimes a bit of 'selfishness' is necessary!

I've had issues with anxiety in the past and what I have learned is not to try and avoid triggers and to combat the behaviour and thinking that leads to continuing anxiety. During an anxiety attack, doing things that play into the feelings of emergency and danger (like leaving the place, breathing exercises, drinking water or tea) strengthen the reflex that leads your brain to assess a situation as an emergency which leads to anxiety. If you're having an attack, leaving the situation that is causing it can be the worst thing you can do because you are giving credibility to a response that says a situation is threatening even if its not (obviously this is different if you are actually in danger). The more you treat it like an emergency,the more adrenaline your body will produce, increasing your symptoms and prolonging the episode. The best thing to do is to continue as normal, treat it as an every day occurrence and your body will learn that it doesn't need to have a special response to deal with stressful situations. Regardless of what you do to deal with the symptoms of anxiety, an attack will generally only last 5-10 minutes anyway unless you continue to feed into the anxious behaviour. Just ride it out and treat it like any other part of your day; a little uncomfortable but no big deal.

If a certain type of situation makes you feel anxious, it’s OK to simply avoid it. It's not giving up, it's self care! Know your limits, and practice self preservation!

While you don't want to put yourself in overwhelming situations that will reinforce your fears, it's important to gradually expand your comfort zone. So, small steps at a time, and each time challenge yourself to do a little more until you're able to feel comfortable and tackle the most anxious situations. Overall, build up your confidence to cope by tackling small challenges, allowing you to cope and overcome in the big challenges. For example, perhaps talking to strangers makes you really anxious. Therefore, gradually, make challenges to talk to some acquaintances more, then eventually people you don't know in your class, and finally complete strangers. Do not rush yourself, it is a process.

Another response from my experience (sorry!) One of the things about anxiety is that is a perfectly natural response to a life and death situation. We're supposed to be anxious from time to time, it's perfectly natural and is designed to make you think twice about undertaking an action, going somewhere, or making a decision that has the potential to put us at great danger. Where it becomes an issue is when it gets in the way of you doing every day sorts of activities and interactions. It's important to recognise your present boundaries with anxiety and that slowly stretching them over time is a good thing. And as you do, recognise that you will get through those moments, keep note of your achievements, and give yourself credit for them. If you can't cope with a situation and you need to back out then don't fret too much. Take note of what you learned from the situation and use that for the next situation. You can do this! :)

Although a lot of people say it is best to face up to what makes you anxious, I think that it all depends on what the situation is and how anxious it makes you feel. If you are feeling anxious for something social then I think it is best to figure out how anxious it will make you and whether it is worth it. If you feel like you won't receive anything from the situation and you are getting anxious over it then I think it is completely up to you whether or not you avoid it.

It's totally okay. Small steps make you to be more comfortable with yourself. You can try it little by little.

I find from my personal expedience that avoiding situations help in short term, and not in the long term. If you face what is wrong you might be able to fix what is making you anxious.

It is not giving up. Anxiety is like any other illness, and taking care of yourself is mandatory. Staying away from anxiety-inducing situations is healthy and wise.

I've been having panic attacks for a long while now. The more you let it take over, the more you avoid living your life because of this, the easier it will be to not do anything. To just sit there and never leave your house, always being alone. Nobody really wants to be completely alone.

It's good to push yourself out of your comfort zone and teach yourself to hand anxiety-inducing situations but at the same time it's important for you to know your limits and not push yourself past your breaking point.

I think that it is okay in small amounts. For example take it one place or situation at a time, work on it slowly and at your own pace. Once you feel comfortable i one situation that made you nervous then you can move on to the next with the confidence that you can achieve what you want and you are not your anxiety.

I think that is perfectly fine. I wouldn't consider that "giving up" at all! Then over time, you can learn ways to manage your anxiety, and these situations won't make you as anxious.

I believe it depends. If the situation is making you panic, then you could possibly avoid it for a time, in my opinion, until you are able to take some time to get well, practice strategies for your anxiety, and use self-care. It is also important to get back to you life soon when you are ready and so that you are not adding to the anxiety. You are here to live you life, but you also deserve a break to get well. It also depends on if the anxiety is interfering with your daily life. If so, you may want to possibly consider talking to a professional or a doctor, but this is your choice. I am not giving medical advice, however, I wish you the best in getting better. You can do this. I know it. I wish you happiness.

It can be okay, and not okay at the same time. If the situations that are making you anxious are a recurring thing, it might be a better choice to confront it and figure out how and why this is making you anxious. If it is a situation that you know for a fact cannot change and something you would rather not deal with, it can be okay to avoid the situation altogether if that would make you feel more comfortable and safe.

It is okay to avoid situations, if they cause you to feel uncomfortable, and you know that they will cause panic attacks really rapidly, however, holding these situations away from you not overcome them, and can actually create more anxiety about that situation in the future.

Sometimes, avoiding situations whilst coming to terms with anxiety is ideal. You need to find ways to cope. Once you are coping, anxious situations will help you to overcome the anxiety.

this refers to the flight or fight plan, flight, meaning you get away from the situation. fight being you stand and face your fears. If you are trying your best to avoid the situation this problem will continue to haunt you unless you allow that problem in and let it abuse you mentally

yes it is okay it just means you are not ready to deal with the situation yet and might not ever be but sometimes you can't avoid it

That's totally fine! If you don't feel comfortable doing something you shouldn't do it. It's your body and you have to take care of it. You know if you want to do something and you know if you don't. So if you avoid certain kind of situations that totally fine.

It's never a bad if you feel it's right, but maybe theres more to it, which you should look into

I don't think it's giving up to it. The best solution is to avoid it. I know that many people say "face your fear to get over it" that's NOT TRUE in all situation. Anxiety is a serious thing and it might lead to worse problems so avoid it in order to not ruin your day. Stay Awesome.

It is completely okay to avoid situations that make you anxious. Please don't think that means you're giving up to it. Anxiety is a really hard feeling to deal with and avoiding it is the most effective way of doing so.

If there are certain triggers you know of, and there is no reason to expose yourself to them, then why should you? In my life there is a road, and on this road live lots of people that I spent almost all of the first 20 years of my life with. They were family friends and neighbors that became family friends. They are bad people, who did disgusting things to me and many of my friends. I do not drive down this road. I have no reason to. However, sometimes I get anxious doing average things like going to the grocery store for fear of running into these people. This is something I know I must overcome.

Avoiding everything that might put stress on you is not good because it is what makes you think, change and grow as a person. But, if there are specific situations that make you anxious and you have attempted to change or adjust then it is just you taking care of yourself.

Avoiding situations wont help you overcome them. Take a step forward like you were to do if you overcome a fear. If you begin to feel like you can not do it, try think positive. But if you start to feel like you can't breathe or dizzy or how you feel with an anxiety attack, take a step back, listen to calm music, breathe slowly and understand your surroundings. Try not avoid things because you wont get better. Face your fears, you can do it!! :D

For me, avoiding situations makes your anxiety worse in the long run. It is better to stick it out.

Learning to live with anxiety is a process. Although it's best to not allow your anxiety to get in the way of your experiences, sometimes there are things that are too overwhelming to approach, and that's okay. You can always work your way up to confronting the things that make you anxious. Movie theaters gave me terrible panic when I was little. It took me years, but I'm able to go to the movies now. I started off just getting comfortable in the lobby, then seeing movies I had already seen. etc. I'm grateful I didn't allow my anxiety to prevent me from doing things, but I had to be kind to myself in the process. In short, it's okay to be careful-- it doesn't mean that you're giving up. You're just a work in progress, and that is a very good thing.

Avoidance is perhaps the most common safety behaviour in anxiety. The problem with avoiding situations that make us anxious is that we never know if it was that bad, so we get more anxious the next time because we never faced the issue. When we find yourself in this cycle, the only way out is to face the issue. It can be terrifying, however it will be such a healthy thing for you to do. Remember you can always talk through the issue with us here on 7 cups! ❤

Avoidance is one of the many fight or flight responses that we use when we are anxious. While we should try not to "avoid" anxious situations, and instead face them head on, that is naturally easier said than done. I like to not think of it in terms of "giving up", though. If we just can't bring ourselves to face a situation, we probably just need to scale back our expectations of ourselves. Instead of jumping into a situation we are afraid of with both feet, it might be better to try and break it down into more manageable steps. That way we aren't "giving up" or "giving in", we're going through it and not around it. Just at a manageable pace.