I used to get anxious all the time. Sometimes I’d wake up anxious. It felt like anxiety was just waiting for me to open my eyes so it could join me for the day. Those were difficult days because I couldn’t identify the source. I just woke up and bam! It was there, and I felt powerless to do anything about it.
I recently changed my understanding of anxiety. In the past, when I got that tightness in my belly, I would go inside myself. I used to spend all kinds of time trying to figure out how I got there, and what it meant to me. I would wonder what’s wrong with me. I brought more worry to my worry.
Over the past year or so as I’ve understood more about the principles of You Can Choose, I’ve decreased my anxious episodes dramatically. I no longer have feelings of despair and powerlessness, because I know I can choose. I know I’m in control and never a victim.
But I still had moments and days where I feel anxious.
In our book and here on the blog, we write about the power of our feelings. Our feelings are guides. If we listen to our feelings, they tell us about conflicts with our thoughts and beliefs. So I asked myself, what is the conflict that causes the anxiety?
I realized, for me, the conflict is sometimes about my work with You Can Choose. You see, I have big plans. Beth and I plan to have a million people care about the You Can Choose material. That’s a lot and quite a bit more than where we are today. Not even a thousand people even know about You Can Choose. So, we have quite a bit of work to do.
The anxious feeling is me telling me to get to work.
My thoughts are “Go get a million followers”, and my beliefs are “To get a million followers I have to work.” If I’m not working on the material I get the conflict and the anxious feeling.
So, now when I feel anxious, I don’t wonder about what it is, I get up and work. I write or work on the website. I do something, and the conflict goes away and so does the anxiety.
When I’m working, I’m in a position of power. I know I can do it. I can make a change, a difference, an impact.
From a position of strength, accomplishment, and power, there is no room for anxiety.
