The Anxiety Reset Workbook

Materials needed: a notebook or this ebook’s worksheet space, plus a pen. Time required: 12-18 minutes.

Here’s a simple exercise that trains your eyes to catch triggers early. Don’t aim for perfect accuracy - aim for “clear enough to notice a pattern.”

Your Turn: complete 1 tracking entry 1. Pick one recent moment when anxiety showed up (even mild). Choose something that happened in the last week if you can. 2. Time anchor: Write the approximate time (morning/afternoon/evening) and your energy level (low/medium/high). 3. Trigger details: In 1-2 sentences, write what happened right before the anxiety. Keep it concrete: - Who/what was involved? - Where were you? - What was said or expected? 4. Body + mind snapshot: Write: - Body: 1-2 sensations (tight chest, buzzing, stomach drop, headache, restless legs) - Mind: 1-2 thoughts (e.g., “I’m going to mess up,” “They’ll judge me,” “What if it goes wrong?”) 5. Anxiety level (0-10): Rate it at the peak. 6. Early warning check: Answer this - what was the earliest sign you noticed? (a subtle thought, a shoulder tension, a “uh-oh” feeling) 7. Response: What did you do next? (answered fast, avoided, checked phone, tried to be perfect, got quiet, paced) 8. Outcome: What happened after? Even if nothing “fixed” it, note the direction: - Did it fade within 10-30 minutes, or stick around longer?

Completed example (so you can copy the structure) > Entry example: > When: Tuesday afternoon, energy medium. > Trigger: At work, my manager asked if I could “handle the client question” before end of day. They didn’t give details. > Body: Tight chest, buzzing in my hands. > Mind: “I’ll look incompetent,” “I won’t know what to say.” > Anxiety (0-10): 7/10. > Early warning sign: A sudden “uh-oh” feeling as soon as the request was made. > Response: I opened my laptop, then kept switching tabs and rereading the message; I also drafted and deleted replies. > Outcome: Anxiety eased a bit after I asked one clarifying question and got a specific example.

Your Turn: fill out your tracker entry (copy and write) Entry #1 (your recent moment): When (time of day + energy): ______________________________________________ Trigger (what happened right before?): _____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Body (1-2 sensations): _________________________________________________ Mind (1-2 thoughts): __________________________________________________ Anxiety peak (0-10): ______ /10 Earliest sign you noticed: ______________________________________________ Response (what you did/avoided): ________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Outcome (what happened next?): ____________________________________________

If you can only fill half of this right now, that’s still useful. Early tracking counts - even “imperfect data” is data.

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Real-World Application: find patterns you can use tomorrow

Once you’ve got a couple entries, patterns stop being annoying background noise and start becoming something you can predict. For example, your “trigger” might not be the meeting itself - it might be the uncertainty around what you’re expected to deliver. Or it might be a tired body plus a notification that pulls you into “fix it now” mode.

Try applying your tracker in a real-life way today and tomorrow. Here are three scenarios - each one includes what you’re looking for and what “success” looks like.

Scenario A: Phone notifications at work When you notice anxiety after a message, check your entry for these clues: time of day, body sensations, and what thought showed up. Expected outcome: you’ll be able to say, “When I get an urgent-sounding text with no context, my anxiety hits around a 6-8, and I start overchecking.” That’s a pattern you can plan for.

Scenario B: Social plans and “What if they don’t like me?” thoughts If you feel anxious before seeing someone, your tracker might show a loop: uncertainty → mind predicts rejection → you try to control the situation (overtexting, rehearsing, canceling). Expected outcome: you can identify the earliest sign (like “I’m already planning my exit”) and name the loop in one sentence.

Scenario C: Household stress (chores, errands, “I’m behind”) Anxiety might spike when you’re hungry, rushed, or faced with a vague task. Your tracker may show the trigger is “too many steps” rather than the task itself. Expected outcome: you can point to a specific trigger like “when I see a long list with no order, my anxiety jumps to 5-7,” instead of blaming yourself.

The point isn’t to micromanage your emotions. It’s to build a quick, reliable “early warning system.” And the more specific your trigger descriptions are, the easier it is to spot your pattern the next time around.

Reflect (quick check): after you add one more entry tomorrow, you should be able to underline one repeated trigger or one repeated response. If you can’t yet, that’s normal - patterns often show up after 2-5 entries.

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Reflect: turn your clues into next-step action

You’ve now started building your own trigger map. Let’s make sure it turns into something you can actually use, not just information you store in your head.

1) What’s the earliest sign your anxiety gives you - before it becomes obvious? Write one sentence using this format: “My earliest sign is ________, and it usually happens when ________.”

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

2) Which part of your loop shows up most often: the trigger, the body sensations, the thoughts, or the response? Circle one: Trigger / Body / Thoughts / Response Then write one example from your entry.

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

3) What’s one specific thing you’ll do the next time you notice that earliest sign? Pick a response you can do in under 2 minutes (example prompts: pause, label it, breathe once, write the thought, ask one clarifying question).

______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

When you can name your earliest sign and your most common loop piece, you’re already doing the “reset” part - because you’re no longer waiting for anxiety to take the wheel. Your next entries will sharpen the map, and sharper maps make it easier to choose a different response.

End of chapter one. 6 more chapters in the full book.