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Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain and Beat Anxiety—Pill-Free

Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain and Beat Anxiety—Pill-Free

Anxiety's hidden crises: 3 in 4 sufferers don’t receive help, and pills aren't the cure.

Sol TV
April 22, 2025

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Picture this: You're about to head to a family gathering, and your heart is racing, your mind's spiraling with "what ifs," and you're tempted to pop a pill or a gummy to make it stop.

You might think that sounds like a perfectly fine thing to do, but the truth is, it’s not always the best choice. Pills, whether they're serotonin-boosting antidepressants or cannabis-based solutions, often just slap a Band-Aid on anxiety. Sure, they tweak your brain's chemicals to make you feel temporarily better, but they don't touch the root cause of your issue. Some even pull you into an altered reality that feels good for a hot minute but leaves you worse for wear in the long run.

What if you could break free from anxiety's grip without medicinal help?

You can, and it starts with understanding what's happening in your head and heart.

The Anxiety Loop: Two Fears, One Trap

Anxiety is a big monster fueled by two different kinds of fear.

The first fear is your body's original survival instinct, which is the response to a threat. It's automatic and primal and fades fast if you let it.

The second fear is the real troublemaker. It begins with a startling realization— "What have I done?" or "What if I fail? What if I'm stuck like this forever?" At that point, your imagination runs wild, and you end up caught in the fear-adrenaline-fear cycle. That increases your heart rate, which plays a powerful part in keeping anxiety thriving. What you need at that moment is something to break to loop.

Dr. Claire Weekes, a famous Australian psychiatrist, developed an effective strategy for dismantling the anxiety cycle. It revolves around a deceptively simple yet profound four-step process: Face, Accept, Float, and Let Time Pass (often abbreviated FAFL).

The steps serve as a direct antidote to the normal, counterproductive responses to anxiety: running away (avoidance), fighting the feelings, becoming hyper-alarmed by symptoms (arresting and listening in), and being impatient with how long it takes to find a cure.

The Four-Step Process That Could Change Everything

Here's how it works—and why it's legit:

Face

Running away from fear makes it scarier, so don't ghost it. When your palms get sweaty or your chest tightens, look at your fear straight in the eye and deal with it.

Accept

Stop throwing punches at the panic. This isn't giving up—it's allowing your nervous system to relax. Instead of thinking, "I can't let this win," try something like, "Okay, you're here. I'm not fighting you."

You have to consciously surrender to the physical sensations of “first fear”—trembling and breathlessness. Your objective is to allow the initial wave of adrenaline and its effects on your body to manifest and then subside naturally without adding the secondary layer of resistance (“second fear”) that prevents resolution.

Float

Managing anxiety is often compared to swimming—both are complex, effortful activities requiring multiple techniques to stay afloat and battle the current. People will try different coping strategies, mental tricks, and control tactics, but often find themselves exhausted and still struggling. On the other hand, a body naturally floats if it stops fighting and allows the water to support it. Allow uncomfortable thoughts and feelings to be present without desperately trying to analyze their origin.

Let time pass

Anxiety loves making you think you need to be "fixed" as soon as possible, leading you to feel impatient if you don’t immediately feel better. That impatience adds another layer of “second fear,” which hinders healing. When the nervous system is stimulated and sensitized, it requires time to recalibrate and desensitize. In the same way you would allow time for your skin to heal from a wound, when it comes to your emotional health, you need to trust your body's inherent capacity for healing, even when progress feels slow or non-linear.

Why is this so important? When you stop fighting anxiety and let the feeling be, you tap into your body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which handles calm-down processes such as resting and digesting. It slows your heart, steadies your breath, and brings you back to feeling grounded and balanced.

Anxiety doesn’t have to run your life. Dr. Weekes’ FAFL approach can help you stop the fear cycle, not just cover it up. It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a real way to change how you deal with your body’s signals. Keep at it, and you’ll find your calm again—no meds needed.

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