denkthoughts

I’ve always been an anxious overthinker. But not over the past few weeks! I’m cured! All it took was finally thinking my way out of it 😉

Anxiety isn’t real

This is a bold claim, so bear with me here for a second - anxiety isn’t real. Before you call me a ding-dong and tell me to shut up, I know that anxiety exists and has real impact. But what I mean is that recently, I’ve finally recognized that anxiety doesn’t exist in the real, physical world around me. Put another way, anxiety only exists in my head, and doesn’t affect the world around me in any way.

Okay, so anxiety isn’t physically tangible. How does that change anything?

Efficient. Intentional. Practical. These are a few adjectives someone might use to describe me (Alexa would probably add weird, stinky, and dorky to that list). I’m typically the one on the team who’s asking the dumb questions. What are we hoping to get out of this meeting? What problem are we currently trying to solve? What benefits do we get by going with this approach? Etc.

We can apply that same line of thinking to anxiety: what is my brain hoping to achieve with this anxiety? What problem is this anxiety currently solving? What benefits do I get by feeling this anxiety?

Most of the time (at least in my experience), anxiety is simply useless and impractical. Sure it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective, but most of us aren’t being chased by predators these days. If I’m anxious about something happening tomorrow, it’s probably not life-or-death. That thing will still happen tomorrow regardless of how I feel; the only difference is whether I spent 24 hours feeling worried or not.

Letting go

For whatever reason, viewing anxiety as a silly, wasteful, pointless thing has changed something in my brain. Whatever constitutes me isn’t anxious, my brain just creates anxiety because it used to be valuable for survival. But now for most of my everyday life it’s not needed.

What a freeing thought!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been catching myself feeling anxious, recognizing how unproductive it is, and then simply choosing to stop. And somehow it’s been working! I certainly wouldn’t give myself a 100% success rate, but it’s made a meaningful difference. Anxiety doesn’t solve my problems, so why bother with it?

Caveats

I’m not claiming to have solved anxiety for everyone in every situation. Some of you reading this may think my epiphany as described here is a bit too robotic or simplistic. I recognize that there are many types of anxiety, and some anxiety is even beneficial and serves a valid purpose.

I think the general takeaway should be this: when you feel anxious, consider why, and whether it’s serving you at all. If not, try throwing it away! You might be surprised at your ability to (sometimes) just flip a switch and let go. Managing my mental health is still an active project that will never be “finished”, but I’m excited about this new perspective that’s helping me spend more time feeling relaxed and free.