Anxiety

Just until recently I have decided to take full on responsibility for my anxiety. Realizing that this behavior was, and has affected my past, I was ready to let go.

Fortunately, my case of anxiety is now very mild. But there has been a time when my anxiety has gotten the best of me. I’ve worried so much that I’ve had sharp pains in my stomach and/or broken out in sweat. Not only that, but my ability to reason has become so fogged, that it’s left me with irrational decisions that I have later regretted. I knew that I didn’t want to live my life that way; worrying all the time and not enjoying the ‘now.’

I have to say that I’m not a self-help book aficionado. But I did know that I need to find that something that would help me feel better, so I did a little research. I started to read a book called Self Coaching, The Powerful Program to Beat Anxiety and Depression by Joseph J. Luciani. In which my ‘anxiety-symptoms’ were described almost verbatim.

Luciani in his book explains how the feeling of lack of control is what usually triggers anxiety. But we all know that, hardly anything in life is controllable. I mean, you can’t control things like the weather, what people think or even the death someone loved.  But what you can control is being confidant enough that you can, and have the ability, to handle life’s stresses. And it all starts with your train of thought.

Anxiety is a habit, and, habits can be broken. You can choose to give in to your negative thoughts or not. For example, a fire cannot keep going unless it’s fueled by oxygen right? Well the same goes for anxiety, you cannot have anxiety unless you fuel it with your negative thoughts. In my case, my thoughts were almost always figments of my imagination. If an issue came up, I’d immediately think the worst possible scenarios. Come to learn that type of thinking is simply a coping mechanism that would help me feel temporarily in control of the unknown or my life uncertainties. Key word here is temporarily.

The problem with all of this worrying is that it gets you nowhere. Absolutely nowhere. The book points out a way to stop these thoughts from festering in your mind. When you start to think about possible scenarios, stop and think, “Is this fact or fiction?” Learning to differentiate the two is essential for your mental health. All that worrying is mentally exhausting, believe me, it really is! This trick has been of great value to me. If I answer myself by saying its fiction, which is almost all the time, then I ask myself to move on; to think of something else. And it works! Of course I’ve ‘fed’ the habit for many years, so I might have to come back repeat myself again, but that doesn’t matter, I just don’t allow these imaginary thoughts to linger in my mind. Aside from learning to differentiate fact from fiction, I realized that I was allowing my mind to bully me in other areas of my life. My workouts were not the exception.

I noticed that I tend to talk myself down from interval training.  For example, three times a week I do HIIT’s (high intensity interval training)/conditioning, in which I do either sprint, cycle, jump rope etc. I know exactly how many sets I want to do beforehand, but I catch myself thinking mid workout that I should quit. “I’ve done enough sets,” is what I’ll tell myself. It’s a constant battle. I’ve applied the “just do it” motto, in which I don’t think, I just act. How do you not think? It’s actually quite easy. It’s by enjoying the ‘now.’

When I now do my intervals, I don’t think about how tired I am and how badly I want to quit. I distract myself with enjoying my surroundings. By acknowledging them, you start living in the now and not in your brain. Just look around look at the trees, the grass, the people or whatever is around you and then act. I’ve had to remind myself to just go and  “just do it.”

You see, your thoughts can make or break you in many areas of your life. Don’t give in to your negative thoughts; instead replace them with affirmative ones and by enjoying your surroundings. Don’t let your negative thoughts run you down with exhaustion. Worrying is like a rocking chair, it may rock back and forth vigorously, but it doesn’t go anywhere. Same goes with your thoughts, if your thoughts are not real, you’re on that rocking chair that gets you nowhere. As we all know, anxiety can be detrimental to your health, so do yourself a favor and live in the now.