What If You Had…
A Simple Framework To Navigate Your Anxiety Around Those Hard-To-Have Conversations?
If you’d like some simple tools to better navigate your anxiety around an interpersonal issue…
And to approach that conversation you’ve been nervous to have with more confidence…
Then you’ll want to pay close attention to this letter today.
Here’s the story:
My name is Matthias Barker. I’m a licensed psychotherapist who specializes in couples therapy, childhood traumas, and interpersonal conflict.
Here’s why this is important for you:
If you’ve ever struggled to have a confrontational conversation with someone close to you…
THAT feeling you get from the unresolved tension, and the resulting anxiety, can become its own problem.
If you’ve ever faced anything like this, you know what it feels like.
The anxiety that surfaces around conflict can inspire such deep distress that it leaves your head spinning in rumination: dwelling on every detail of what could go wrong.
Anxiety provoking situations are everywhere:
- Your boss rolls their eyes when you ask them a question
- Your teenager announces they are planning to drop out of high school
- Your mother announces an impromptu visit (which you fear will be accompanied by personal slights and judgmental criticism)
- Your spouse is making financial decisions you don't agree with
These can be tumultuous conflicts that evoke strong physiological reactions…
Head-aches, sweating, jitters, heart-racing…
These can feel distracting and make it harder to concentrate in tense moments and important conversations.
Maybe you don't want to bring up a bunch of conflict....maybe you feel guilty letting people down...or maybe you put a lot of pressure and expectations on yourself.
It’s easier to sweep things under the rug and rationalize them away… but out-of-sight-out-of-mind only works for so long.
The reality is:
"When our responses to conflict come from an anxious place, they often inspire more distance, more intensity, and compound the conflict."
Maybe you’ve experienced this before.
Good news: I recently recorded a workshop designed to help you navigate the anxiety of having a confrontational conversation…
And also give you practical tools for how to approach it.
It’s called the Anxiety Workshop: Navigating Confrontation
First, something you should know:
This workshop does NOT replace or constitute therapy...I'm not your personal therapist.
This workshop is designed to aid you in your personal development or even complement your formal counseling with a local therapist.
I’ll provide you the tools to better approach situations like the ones just described, as well as provide you a step-by-step guide to work through contentious conversations backed by the latest psychological research.
In the workshop, you will:
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- Discover the psychology and source of anxiety
- Learn a model for navigating your anxiety while you come to a solution for your personal conflicts
My style is authentic, accessible and down-to-earth, so you can count on the workshop being free of unnecessary psychobabble, and NOT boring!
Trust me: it doesn't matter if you’re introverted and have spent years avoiding conversations like these… navigating this conflict is not beyond you.
Even if you’re nervous that you'll just be a burden or bringing up all this negatively will disappoint the people you care about...
The Anxiety Workshop will help you find the courage to talk about the things that matter most to you in the most effective way possible.
To help you decide if it’s for you…
Here’s A Taste Of What You’ll Discover In The Workshop:
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- The demystifying truth about anxiety… what causes it… and how to work through it (Includes the two main forms of anxiety you need to know about)
- How to deal with uncomfortable feelings, intrusive thoughts, and self-critical thoughts (This doesn’t mean you’ll never face anxiety again, but it doesn't have to control you in the same way.)
- The “catch-22” of your body’s physiological response to anxiety (Often, our impulses only make matters worse! Here’s how to diffuse some of the physiological intensity inherent in difficult conversations)
- 3 simple questions to ask yourself for overcoming uncertainty around having a tough conversation with a loved one (If you just keep coming back to these three questions, you’ll be empowered to communicate in a more honest and meaningful way)
- Rumination: how to avoid falling into thought loops that seem productive when, in fact, they're getting in your way.
- The connection between your level of uncertainty and how that shapes your anxiety (And how to use this understanding to let yourself off the hook for thinking you ‘shouldn’t’ feel a certain way)
- The destructive power of “label loops” and their negative impact on behavior
- A key truth behind anger… and the paralyzing emotions that underlie it (A method for getting to the root of your own emotions and those of the people you care about)
- How avoidance often brings about the very thing we are trying to avoid! (And what to do instead to not get caught in an endless pattern of minimizing and appeasing)
- The most important step to identifying your default anxiety response
- A research-proven technique for disentangling yourself from troubling thoughts (These are the thoughts that suck you in and keep you tangled up in worry and overthinking)
- How to avoid the two main pitfalls of excessive worry and frozen tension (And how to find the courage to have needed conversations in a more transformational way with people that matter to you)
- A thorough discussion on how to apply these techniques with children (While the concepts are similar, there are important differences when dealing with kids and teenagers)
- Two simple ways to reduce self-critical thoughts and self-judgement (Also, the absolute worst thing you can do that will likely make the feeling worse)
- Strategic ways to allow someone to hear you out without instantly putting them on the defensive (It's not about manipulating people to do what you want, but approaching them in this way is your best bet to step into more productive ‘negotiation’)
There’s just a small sample of what you’ll hear in the workshop.
This virtual recorded workshop includes a 45-minute lecture and 55-minute Q&A session where individual questions were submitted.
But that’s not all...
Topics Covered In The Q&A Include:
- How to resolve issues in a marriage when partners have different anxiety coping mechanisms (It can be tricky when partners deal with conflict in different ways…here are some ideas for where to start)
- A simple exercise to relieve anxiety and fall asleep faster (Truth be told, this may require practice. But it’s been a game-changer for me and for many of my patients.)
- “Why do I always feel the need to say sorry for everything?” Simple techniques that let you express yourself with more courage and authenticity
- How to achieve true, positive communication without being overbearing (Helpful for when your partner goes quiet or gets that ‘deer in the headlights’ look)
- Journaling secrets to release tension (Journaling can be an incredible tool, here are some of my best practices for getting the most out of it)
- A proven-effective way to praise your kids without creating anxiety-provoking standards. (We cover some of the dangers of labels in the workshop. Here’s how to bring the best out of your kids while letting them be themselves)
- The Opposite-Handed Writing Technique…Does It Work? My Thoughts
That’s what awaits you in the Q&A.
Not only will the workshop help you discover immediate actions you can take for the anxiety you feel in the key relationships of your life, but it will ALSO provide you the tools, mindsets, and strategies you need to become a more effective communicator and talk about your needs with greater impact.
The workshop is designed to give you simple, practical, and actionable tips you can use as soon as today to improve your relationships...and to grow as an individual.
Here’s the bottom line:
The Anxiety Workshop retails for $75, but if you order today, you'll get instant access for just $49.
Plus, you'll also get…
[FREE BONUS]
The Anxiety Workshop Workbook+ Practice Worksheets
This interactive guide in downloadable PDF format is for implementing the step-by-step skills you’ll learn in the workshop.
The bonus worksheets are designed to let you ‘role play’ or rehearse important conversations before they happen.
A $39 Value…
I’ll send both of these to you FREE with your order today.
Ordering is VERY simple too.
When you click the button below and fill in your payment info (which only takes a minute), you’ll be instantly emailed a link to view the workshop (and to download your free workbook).
So you could be watching it just moments from now, if you want.
It’s time to make a change.
Life’s too short to let relational conflicts like these linger and drain you emotionally.
Click the button below to get instant access and start watching the Anxiety Workshop now:
- Matthias J Barker
P.S. Still on the fence? Check out our FAQ section below for answers to your most pressing questions…
Meet Matthias Barker
Hi, I’m Matthias. I have a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and I've been formally trained for treating complex trauma, anxiety, and marital issues. I treat a large variety of mental disorders and difficult life circumstances in my clinical practice based in Nashville, Tennessee.
I discovered psychotherapy during a crisis in my 20s that led to processing my own struggle with depression and childhood trauma. Today, I love seeing the principles that saved my life help others too.
I'm about showing you how to move towards what's meaningful in life despite hardship. I made this workshop in response to the long line of people I've talked to (both in my clinical practice and online) who feel a sense of dread in approaching confrontational conversations in the relationships that matter most to them.
I've seen time and time again that avoiding the conversation tends to make the problem worse. My hope is the workshop will empower you to be more honest about what matters most to you, and communicate it in a more powerful way.