When you embrace uncertainty as a natural part of the world, anxiety seems to lose its grip on you.
We have said this many times, but it’s really confusing how in the safest and most comfortable times in history there are highest levels of anxiety.
It makes you think. It tells that the feeling of anxiety is not based on logical reason but on irrational triggers projected by the mind.
We are species who evolved in much different circumstances and environments than ones we live in today. We evolved thousands of years.
And we changed the tempo of thousands of years of evolution with the tempo of hundred years of technological progress.
All this means that we function on an outdated software. Anxiety is an old program working in the background. Here is how to use it until you update.
5 Ways To Use Anxiety In Your Advantage:
1. Use it as a trigger to slow down.
Like every other emotion, anxiety speaks a message. The message of anxiety is basically slow down, look around, rethink about your choices, is there something you need to do, is there something you need to know. Anxiety is like overly worried guardian that doesn’t even know what to worry about. So use this period to slow down. You don’t have to change your plans, just slow down and observe.
2. Use it as a signal to learn more.
Anxiety, and even fear, are stimulating emotions. They stimulate you to gain more knowledge about what you want to do, to think of a smarter strategy, to find a better way of doing something. They stimulate you to be smarter. Most of us let them stop us from doing what we wanted, but all anxiety aimed to do was to nudge us, to push us to think of a smarter strategy, to help us do what we wanted in a better way.
3. Use it as a substitute for excitement.
When the two emotions are compared, anxiety and excitement are almost exactly the same. They are the same sensations in the same areas of the body. The only difference between anxiety and excitement is in the context that we give to these feelings. It’s the psychological factor that differs. And you can use this in your advantage by reframing the way you look at the emotion. Whenever you feel anxious think you are actually excited.
4. Use it as a window to get to know yourself.
The thing that makes anxiety the most persistent and irritating emotion is the uncertainty factor. Anxiety feeds on uncertainty, and uncertainty is well, everywhere. However, instead of fighting the uncertainty of the world we live in, or get addicted to compulsions that give us a sense of certainty, embrace uncertainty. Instead, try to examine yourself. Use anxiety as a window to find the things about your character that cannot be changed.
5. Use it as a sign to realign with your purpose.
Feeling anxiety does not mean there is something wrong with you. In fact, it means that your defensive mechanism works as it should. Anxiety is a defensive mechanism of your subconscious aiming to give you a nudge, to let you know that you have steered away from your purpose, that what you occupy your time with is not really that much important, that there are other things your soul screams for you to do instead. Learn what they are.
If you are someone who struggles with anxiety, if this article resonated with you and you want to get rid of your anxiety once and for all, contact us at [email protected], tell us your story in couple of words, and we will see if you are a good fit for our Anti Anxiety Coaching program. We are really picky about our clients and we work only with people who want to put in the necessary effort.
