I just looked back, and surprisingly, I have written very little about anxiety, being that many of my core struggles in life has been with this little beast.
The first step is to recognize what need anxiety fills for us. In general, Anxiety serves as a mental red string around our finger, constantly reminding us not to mess something important up.
What we define as important, is part of our individual makeup, but it can be anything from things surround our physical security, such as when we interview for a new job, to emotional security, such as when our spouse is late arriving home, to social security, such as when you at a dinner party and don’t know anyone, but feel a need to establish your place in the room.
However, the common denominator of anxious moments is that you are in a position of vulnerability, and the anxiety sits there to protect you by creating sound loops in your mind and when a little more severe, you even have some type of physical sensation.
OK, so now we understand where anxiety come from. What should we do about it if we want it to just go away?
Well, like all emotions, which are based on thoughts, we have to modify our thinking a little.
First we must examine what aspect of our security is threatened, and why exactly we feel threatened. Then we simply need to convince ourselves, that in fact, there is no threat.
But you ask, there is a threat, why should I convince myself otherwise?
Because, the threat is really a figment of your imagination, where you think you can’t make it, or survive, but really you are just fooling yourself. You can make it, you can survive. You’ve made it this far haven’t you!
So ironically, we spend time telling ourselves the lie that we can’t make it through life, when really what we need to do is beef up on the fact that we certainly can make it though life.
In doing so, your anxiety goes down, and as you continue getting stronger in your own “can do” beliefs, hopefully it goes away entirely.