Do you roll out the welcome mat for anxiety?

Roll out the welcome mat for anxiety

“Just in Case”: How We Invite Anxiety Along for the Ride

In my counselling work, I often notice a subtle but powerful pattern: people dream, imagine, or plan something joyful, and then, almost reflexively, they invite anxiety to join them.

It sounds like this:

• “I’d love to go wild water swimming… but what if there are sharks and I get attacked?”

• “I want to go out tonight… but what if I get mugged?”

Suddenly, the joy of the moment is hijacked by a “just in case” scenario. And without realising it, they’ve extended an open invitation to anxiety: Come with me. Protect me. Be on guard.

Anxiety doesn’t just subtly stand by just in case, it jumps right in to protect you.

When you imagine the worst-case scenario, your brain doesn’t just entertain a thought, it prepares for danger. You’ve told your survival brain, “This is a threat,” and it responds accordingly.

Cue the fight-or-flight response:

• Your heart rate increases.

• Muscles tense.

• Breathing becomes shallow.

• Your senses sharpen, scanning for danger.

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This is your amygdala, the brain’s alarm system, doing its job. It doesn’t distinguish between real and imagined threats, it just reacts. So when you say, “What if I get mugged?” your brain starts looking for muggers. That person walking behind you? Could be one. That sound behind you? Better stay alert.

Anxiety becomes your overzealous bodyguard. It doesn’t clock off, it stays with you, just in case.

How to Stop Handing Anxiety an Invite

You don’t need to banish anxiety completely, it has an important role in keeping you alive. However you can choose when and how it shows up.

Here are a few ways to keep it from coming along everywhere with you 'just in case'

1. Notice the “But” or “What If”

Catch yourself in the moment. When you say, “I’d love to… but what if…” pause. Ask: Is this a real threat or a hypothetical one?

2. Challenge the Story

Instead of “What if I get attacked?” try "I could have an amazing time?” Flip the narrative. Invite possibility, not panic.

3. Ground Yourself in the Present

Anxiety lives in the future. Bring yourself back to now. Use your senses, what can you see, hear, feel? This helps calm the survival brain.

4. Thank Anxiety, Then Set Boundaries

Say internally: “Thanks for trying to protect me, but I’ve got this.” You’re acknowledging its role without letting it take the wheel.

5. Practice Exposure with Safety

If something feels scary but doable, try it in small steps. Go out in the dark with a friend. Swim in a supervised area. Build evidence that you’re safe.

Anxiety is not the enemy, it’s just an overenthusiastic body guard

But you don’t have to take it everywhere. You can choose joy, courage, and presence. You can go swimming without a shark in your mind. You can walk in the dark without a mugger in your imagination.

You can live your life, and leave anxiety at home.

It takes some practice, and counselling and mindfulness can help you move to a place where you invite anxiety along to join you less often.

 Laura Knight is a qualified and experienced Counsellor, Mindfulness Teacher and Counselling Supervisor and an accredited member of BACP (The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy)

She is an approved Anxiety UK Therapist and has her own private practice SeeClear Counselling, in Poole Dorset.

She can offer face to face, telephone and video counselling or mindfulness sessions and supervision sessions.

And runs 8 week Mindfulness courses, online and face to face.

Laura found that many of her clients would present with Anxiety and because of this enhanced her training to include CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) as there is evidence to suggest that CBT is effective in the treatment of anxiety and depression.

 Laura now focuses on working with adults who struggle with Anxiety within her private

practice, working with them to reduce the scary physical and emotional symptoms they experience and help them change their negative thinking patterns and learn to live in the present moment with intention, so they can lead a calmer life. 

For more information about Laura please visit her website https://www.seeclearcounselling.co.uk

Or visit her Facebook page https://facebook.com/seeclearcounselling 

 e-mail laura@seeclearcounselling.co.uk Tel 07975733029