Dealing With Anxiety Today
Do you need help in dealing with anxiety today? Are you at the point where you cannot keep going unless you have relief from your anxiety right now? If so, then rest assured that you are not alone.
Millions of Americans suffer from acute anxiety.
It seems to have become an epidemic in our country, in the same way obesity has become an epidemic.
A lot of speculation exists among people in the field of mental health as to why this is so, but I have my own reasons.
I think it has a lot to do with the rapid speed of modern life, the material expectations fueled by unbridled and, in my opinion, unethical advertising, and the breakdown of close family relationships.
In other words, I don't think social media, as important as it is in some respects, substitutes for face-to-face friends and family, people who are intimately connected to your life; people who will put their arms around you when you need some encouragement.
Reasons aside, what can you do if right now you are having a hard time dealing with anxiety? While I don't want to sound like I know how you should live your life, I do know a lot about living day-to-day with anxiety, and I know what has helped me and what hasn't helped me.
Frankly, my greatest help for anxiety has not come any doctor or therapist.
I have seen more than a few, and I walked out of many offices feeling more stable and at peace...
for about 10 minutes.
I did not experience serious change in my level of ongoing anxiety, the kind they call "free-floating," until I made some fundamental changes in the way I think about myself and my life.
Basically, this involved accepting my imperfections (of which there are many, but that doesn't matter), accepting the imperfections of other people, and accepting the fact that change is a normal part of life.
Accepting our imperfections and those of other people is a hard thing to do.
Many of us grew up believing that our worthiness of love depended on how much we accomplished or how perfect (whatever that is!) we manged to be in the eyes of other people.
This attitude, which we may not even know we have, is, in my opinion, at the root of a lot of anxiety.
And, consequently, I believe that rooting out this attitude is the most important thing to do when you want to release the grip anxiety has on your life.
Millions of Americans suffer from acute anxiety.
It seems to have become an epidemic in our country, in the same way obesity has become an epidemic.
A lot of speculation exists among people in the field of mental health as to why this is so, but I have my own reasons.
I think it has a lot to do with the rapid speed of modern life, the material expectations fueled by unbridled and, in my opinion, unethical advertising, and the breakdown of close family relationships.
In other words, I don't think social media, as important as it is in some respects, substitutes for face-to-face friends and family, people who are intimately connected to your life; people who will put their arms around you when you need some encouragement.
Reasons aside, what can you do if right now you are having a hard time dealing with anxiety? While I don't want to sound like I know how you should live your life, I do know a lot about living day-to-day with anxiety, and I know what has helped me and what hasn't helped me.
Frankly, my greatest help for anxiety has not come any doctor or therapist.
I have seen more than a few, and I walked out of many offices feeling more stable and at peace...
for about 10 minutes.
I did not experience serious change in my level of ongoing anxiety, the kind they call "free-floating," until I made some fundamental changes in the way I think about myself and my life.
Basically, this involved accepting my imperfections (of which there are many, but that doesn't matter), accepting the imperfections of other people, and accepting the fact that change is a normal part of life.
Accepting our imperfections and those of other people is a hard thing to do.
Many of us grew up believing that our worthiness of love depended on how much we accomplished or how perfect (whatever that is!) we manged to be in the eyes of other people.
This attitude, which we may not even know we have, is, in my opinion, at the root of a lot of anxiety.
And, consequently, I believe that rooting out this attitude is the most important thing to do when you want to release the grip anxiety has on your life.
Source...