Successful, high performers aren’t suppose to be anxious, right?
It’s easy to trick yourself and feel like anxiety is a sign of weakness, a sign of failure. And, what’s interesting is that without it you’d be in for some serious trouble. It’s like when you put your hand close to a fire and feel the heat. Without the heat, you’d burn your hand. The same’s true with your anxiety. Feeling it lets you know quickly to stop doing something so you feel calm.
I became a pro at doing this. Letting things really bother me and pile up. It was like I was deaf because I couldn’t hear the screaming inside to stop what I was doing. Finally, enough was enough and I literally had a pressure cooker explode on me. All my anxiety erupted and my whole arm got seriously burned in the process.
It’s all about awareness and then choices. For me, I didn’t realize what I was doing. All I knew is that I felt bad and followed my habit of repressing these feelings. This hurt me and the people around me because I was sharing that yucky energy.
Once I realized that this was a process, I quit feeling stuck, started moving, and choices opened up to me. I could consistently find my way back to peace.
If you’re ready to face your anxiety, here are a few ways you can really benefit from this courageous and mindful action.
4 Ways to Really Benefit from Your Anxiety
1. Prompts You to Take Action
Your anxiety is a natural alarm system. Completely built-in. The essential step is to listen when it’s going off and get better to catch it earlier and earlier in the process. I strongly encourage a morning body scan to check for signs of it. It helps root it out before it sets in too deeply.
Just like when a fire alarm goes off, your anxiety tells you to do something about it. If you don’t know what to do, then this is a good time to start developing tools to dissolve it. This is not something that’s in your DNA. You can heal it by applying the proper remedies. There are many things you can do on your own or by working with a coach or other helping professional.
2. Makes You More Compassionate
To really step into someone’s shoes, you’ve got to know how they feel. When you suffer from anxiety, know that many other people around you are struggling with the same thing. Trust me there are a lot and many you wouldn’t suspect.
If you really contemplate how it feels, you can imagine the suffering someone else on your team, in your family, or in you community is dealing with. And, hopefully, when you’re able to deal with your own anxious feelings, you can help share those methods with others. In the meantime, you can connect on a deeper level with people when you share in their suffering.
3. Helps You Find Better Ways to Protect Yourself
There’s an ironic thing that happens. You get anxious so you can be peaceful and calm. And, that’s no way to solve the issue at hand. I think you’d agree that high levels of anxiety do not equal a peaceful mind. Even though it sounds like common sense, it takes time to get this into your heart.
This is a perfect opportunity to change your mental habit and use this anxious energy to do good in the world. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever feel anxiety. You will. It means that you can deal with it constructively and learn from it.
4. Brings You to a Peaceful State
Your anxiety is a gift. It shows you the way to your peaceful mind. When you really begin to recognize it, you will not be able to let it fester inside anymore. It’s pain will be much more acute – kind of like screaming when before you could only hear a little talking back and forth.
Every time you dip into your anxious mind, you’ll know that you can move to a better state. With practice and the right tools and processes, you’ll make your way to peace more swiftly. And this benefits everyone around you without any additional effort on your part.
In Summary
Anxiety can be a good thing. Moving through it allows you to find your calm and benefit others. Using your mindfulness, courage, and patience, you’ll realize the best methods for you and get the help you need.
Please reflect on these benefits. And, I’d love to know what your first action will be the next time anxiety comes to visit you. It’s helpful to think ahead and always helps others when you share.
Calmly,
Jennifer
