Managing Your Anxiety (HBR Emotional Intelligence Series)

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How to Manage Your Anxiety

By Charlotte Lieberman

When I was nine, I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder by my first-ever therapist. My parents dragged me into treatment after repeatedly catching me cleaning their bathroom. I didn’t mind, but I was confused. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I was doing: organizing their medicine cabinet by color and size, throwing out expired antibiotics and sticky bottles of cough syrup. My favorite part was wiping down the sink with warm water, feeling my worries wash away with stubble and soap scum. Cleaning gave me the sense that I could find inner order among the outer chaos—our cramped New York apartment, murmurs of my parents’ struggling marriage, the growing pains of adolescence.

Now, two decades ...