Anxiety can feel as though it is who we are. It also tends to dominate and overshadow all the different parts of us. Anxiety is not who we are, however. Instead, think about it as something outside of you that makes it challenging to tap into the core parts of you: your values, interests, passions, social connections, and resilience. 

It can be helpful to externalize anxiety by creating an analogy. Here are some ideas:

• An uninvited, obnoxious visitor to the party.
• A bully.
• Annoying background music. 
• A scary (or funny and ridiculous) monster.
• A passing storm.
• A loud and overreactive backseat driver.
• Heavy luggage stuffed full of unnecessary things.