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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) acknowledges difficulty is part of a life worth living.

Experiential avoidance is when we work hard to avoid a naturally occurring discomfort.

Avoiding discomfort usually adds more discomfort while delaying or preventing something desired.

Accepting the discomfort as a necessary evil actually makes enduring the pain easier.

This post is part one of a series.

The phrase “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” is an oft-said phrase used to diminish or thwart the inevitable torrent of disappointment in a situation where one must accept a really unpleasant truth if they want to get something they want. The phrase grows from the idea that you cannot have a cake, meaning continue to have a whole cake, while at the same time eating it. Obviously, as you keep eating the cake, the cake disappears, unfortunately. Of course, you can have a slice of cake and still have cake left over for another day, but that’s not the point. Maybe a better way to say it is “You can’t go to Disneyland without it breaking the bank and waiting in crazy long lines” or “You can’t drive the freeways in Los Angeles without getting stuck in traffic.” Neither is as catchy as the original. Either way, if you want one, the other is going to be there whether you like it or not.

Life, and anxiety recovery, is no different. If given the choice, we humans will always want to have all of the good without the bad. All paycheck, no work. All cupcake, no calories. But for those in anxiety treatment, like for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder........

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