What is Anxiety?

The meaning on Dictionary.com is “Distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune”

First – I have not arrived. This is a real struggle of mine. If you struggle, I am there with you.  I am not judging you. There are many hard things in life and I only want to encourage. Know that you are loved by God and those who care.

The line that stands out to me in the meaning of anxiety is “caused by FEAR”. I heard an acronym for fear that stuck with me.  False Evidence Appearing Real

• Anxiety is unhealthy. Anxiety takes a toll on your physical body. Simply google “effects of stress on the physical body.” Anxiety can lead to a lot of stress.
• Anxiety is Unproductive. Think about it. What do I accomplish by being anxious? Rather than helping anything I find one fear leading to more fears and most of them are False Evidence Appearing Real. Soon I find myself in a black hole and it’s not getting better.
• Anxiety is Unbecoming. This one was difficult to write…really? but…  I hate to admit it because it is so real, I have felt it and I don’t like to think of myself as unbecoming. I guess sometimes the truth hurts.

For me, Dentists=Anxiety

I have had a few bad experiences so simply thinking about a dentist raises anxiety. The truth is I have also had lots of ok experiences… are they ever good? My first response is to think about the unpleasant experience and turn every future experience into that. It really is False Evidence Appearing Real.

What Can we do, When we feel Anxious?

What if we need to treat anxiety like we would an addiction? Surrounding ourselves with God’s truths and supportive safe people.  Those safe people might be friends, family or a therapist. When overcoming addictions, you are taught to look at the trail to doing the thing you don’t want to do. It usually starts with a thought.

One day I realized that anxiety also begins with a tiny thought.   I realized that I could choose to build on that thought which was False Evidence Appearing Real or I could reframe it with a truth statement instead. I have the book “Codependent No More” by Melody Beattie. It works through the 12 steps. Because my books are still packed away from a move, I haven’t had the chance to really check this out. I suspect if I applied the 12 steps to anxiety with God as my higher power, it would be helpful.

The 4 things I have found most helpful for my own anxiety.

1. Praying, reading scriptures like Matt 6: 25-34 (try reading it in a different version.)
2. Gratitude Journal
3. Recognizing the first untruthful thought, calling it out, and reframing it with truth.
4. Talking to a Christian Therapist

How do you handle Anxiety?

And please don’t ask me if I have gone to the dentist recently.  10/17/2022