#426 The Cycle Of Anxiety And Loneliness And How To Break It
The Cycle Of Anxiety And Loneliness and How To Break It Breaking Free from Anxiety and Loneliness Simple Steps to Reconnect and Feel Whole Again Have you ever felt like anxiety and loneliness are teaming up against you? Like one just makes the other worse, and you're stuck in this cycle? Don’t worry—you’re not alone. In this episode, we’re unpacking how these two sneaky emotions work together and, more importantly, how you can break the cycle. Think of this as a friendly chat with practical tips to help you reconnect with the world around you. We’ll look at easy, doable steps to bring a bit more connection and calm into your life. It’s not about overhauling everything at once; it’s about small steps that make a big difference. Here’s what we’ll dive into: The Anxiety-Loneliness Loop: Why these feelings are so closely tied and how they can spiral out of control if you’re not careful. Simple Wins: Easy ways to start reconnecting—like sending a text, smiling at someone, or chatting with your barista. Finding Your People: How doing things you love can naturally bring you closer to others. The Magic of Intention: How a little intention and a bit of action can open the door to meaningful change. This isn’t just talk—this episode is packed with practical stuff you can try today. Whether you’re feeling a little off or stuck in a tough spot, these steps can help you find your way back to connection, calm, and maybe even a little joy. The first step? Just listen in. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get things moving in the right direction. Oh, and if you know someone who could use this right now, feel free to share—it might just be the nudge they need. https://personaldevelopmentunplugged.com/426-the-cycle-of-anxiety-and-loneliness-and-how-to-break-it Take care, shine brightly, and I’ll see you on the other side. Warm wishes, Paul Shine Brightly 🌟 Paul Hey there! I’d love to hear from you—questions, feedback, requests—all welcome. Drop me a line or leave a comment. If you've enjoyed this episode or any other, please share and subscribe! You can reach me at feedback@personaldevelopmentunplugged.com. Subscribe to the Podcast Ready to subscribe? Click here to explore your options. Or, if you're on Apple Music or iTunes, you can go straight to subscribe or leave a review here. Special Programs for You For tools on developing Supreme Inner Confidence, finding Freedom from Anxiety, or specialized Hypnosis Tracks, visit PaulCloughOnline.com. Free Hypnosis Tracks Want access to my FREE hypnosis tracks? Head over to paulcloughonline.com/podcast. Connect with Me Follow me on Twitter: @pcloughie Remember: I'm a therapist, but I'm not your therapist. This podcast and any of my online resources are for educational purposes only. Never use the hypnosis tracks or exercises if you're operating machinery, driving, or if you have epilepsy or psychiatric conditions. Always consult a healthcare provider if you're unsure. Find Us on Other Platforms Catch the podcast on Spotify, Castbox, iHeart Radio, YouTube, or on our Libsyn page. Stay tuned, and keep shining brightly. ✨ Music Credits Music by Wataboi, DreamHeaven, ccjmusic, and others from Pixabay. And the transcript WARNING if you're a lover of the written word this may make you frustrated, or angry - you have been warned - is it an 'ism Hey there, you. How you doing? Ye, You. You were the old earpuds on. This episode focuses on the cycle of anxiety and loneliness Welcome to another episode of the Personal Development Unplug podcast. And today we're going to cut through even more fluff, try to get down to the nitty gritty of how things work. And it's all about this time, the cycle of anxiety and loneliness. So what we're going to look at, we're going to look at, I guess, how loneliness and anxiety, well, they just link together. One comes with the other, the other one comes with the other. And not only do they come with each other, they're linked, but they feed off each other. And, it's a cycle that can just, well, spin out of control sometimes. So I'm gonna look at all of that, plus some steps change. Because I just want you to know that everything is changeable. So if you're anxious and you're lonely together, we can find new ways. And this episode will be a little bit more general, giveiving you some, I'd call it like cognitive steps to change. And then on another episode, we can dive deeper if there's more emotional, root causes behind loneliness and that anxiety. Okay, so let's have a think. The more anxious I get, the more isolated and lonely I feel This vicious cycle, and what do I mean by vicious cycle? You see, I don't know about you, but when I get a little bit anxious now, I get that feeling, that feeling. Sometimes maybe my gut, it doesn't feel really good. You know, I, tend to feel very much alone, very much isolated. And it's. I don't know, it's like if it was with you. But I don't want to reach out for people. I don't. And that's when that loneliness sweeps in as well. And that feeds your anxiety and they just keep going on together. One feeds off the other, doesn't that. The more anxious I get, the more isolated and lonely I feel. I don't want to reach out. And then I even start to question my worth. No, what about me and, what about those relationships I. I thought I hadn and I haven't got because I'm just by myself, and that makes me boring, anxious. And you see, it's as if that anxiety is feeding off the loneliness, and the loneliness is only magnifying the anxiety. For, F**k's sake. One's bad enough, isn't it? Anxiety, at a level is overwhelming andeed deliberate. I can't even say the word, but it stops you doing stuff. And now it's linked with this, loneliness of being unconnected, disconnected. Oh, blimey. So what's the question? What's the question we should ask ourselves? Well, how do we break the bloody cycle? How do we break that cycle? And I think we need to approach it in this particular episode in two parts. And the first one is looking at that anxiety, that feeling inside, which is in some ways turning you into a state of isolation, your isolated state. And it's as if your anxiety grows louder, doesn't it? It starts to just intensify itself. And before we get too isolated, there's such an easy step to make and all we have to do, it'a very, very small step because you know me, we don't want to do the big steps. Because if you try a big step, what happens? I'll tell you, the little metaphor I use is if you're trying to cross a stream, you're on one side and you're in this anxious state or any emotional state and you want to change, you want to jump to the other side of the stream. Well, if it's too bloody big or you find some stepping stones and they're too far apart, what happens? We try to jump and we get fucking wet. And all the. Everything which we're trying to miss out on. But if we can just find small steps that allow us to cross that stream. And you find as you do one small step and the next step might be a little bit bigger, but you're more confident, you're more confident in yourself, you're more comfortable in yourself. And you can take that little bit, little bit bigger step. Not huge, just a little bit bigger. And then you get more confident in that and you can, you build off it, you get more motivated, you can. Well, you just connect with all your energy, your motivation. And then the next one and the next one and the next one, it gets bigger and bigger and then we're on the other side. So we need to. Going back to this, stopping the doubts, the doubts of this isolation Going back to this, getting into and, stopping the doubts, the doubts of this isolation, this disconnection. A small step. And it could be as simple as texting somebody. And, not a needy text. O well, I'm anxious and things like that. No, no, no, no, no. Just a little text that you'd like to hear. Something I'LIKE how you doing, mate? Thinking about you, that's all. Just wondered how you're getting on and that's just opening the door, opening the door. and in some ways, as you do this, you'll find that your unconscious mind begins to realize that you're actually not alone. And you're building a bridge out of this anxiety and the doubts of disconnection or the doubts of connection. Simple little things like, a little text. Doesn't even have to be a phone call because maybe that's a step too big, just a small step. And as you do that, you may get into a conversation and suddenly your unconscious mind goes, actually, yeah, we have got connections. And the anxiety around this particular issue begins to subside. Yes, I know there could be deeper issues around anxiety and disconnection. And we'll go into those, like root causes and how to deal with that with real specific processes. Call it at an emotional level, psychological level. But now we're doing the cognitive steps you can take. As soon as you feel that feeling of anxiety around disconnection, being alone, does that all make sense? Does to me. And it's doable, isn't it? And that's the whole point about this episode. I want to find doable things that you could do right now. You know, we don't have to spend hours thinking about, it writing it down you can do. We're gonna find better than quicker ways than that, by the way. But these are things that you can do yourself right now, as soon as it comes. Cause you're going to break that bloody cycle. Remember, it's called a pattern interrupt. And it's just showing your unconscious mind, hey, not this, but this. And if you keep doing that every time it happens, not this, but this, it will surely just disconnect and, let you, and allow you to connect. Loneliness is not absence of people, it's lack of connection Okay, now what's the other side of this? But it's that bloody loneliness, isn't it? Let's have a little look at loneliness. An
