Imagine that you have been invited to a party. The day before the party, there's a knock on the door and, waiting outside, is your old friend - Anxiety. She's been around for as long as you can remember, whispering in your ear, "be careful", "that's dangerous", "something terrible is going to happen".
Today she says, "don't go, you'll say something stupid, people will laugh at you. Stay in with me and we'll imagine terrible things together".
You don't like her, she's fucked up your life but she has been around for SO long you can't imagine life without her. Because of her horrible lies your body reacts by suspending logic and reason and preparing the fight or flight response - your heart rate goes up, your breathing becomes faster and shallower, you sweat and start to tremble. All proof that Anxiety must be right, right?
Now imagine there's another knock at the door and standing there is Confidence! You haven't seen her for years - she used to tell you to go higher on the swings, play football with the big boys and you used to believe you could do anything with her by your side.
She says "hey, you've got this. You've learnt how to deal with the stress reaction by breathing properly, by understanding that your body only reacts to your thoughts and that by changing the way you think about stuff you can cope with problems. I'll come to the party with you".
She then dropkicks Anxiety and kicks her sorry arse out of the door...
OK, so the above scenario is very simple but if you can look at Anxiety as something that is NOT a permanent part of yourself but as an enemy who brings nothing positive to your life you can start to explore how to eject it from your life.