If I told you that it is possible to see anxiety as a powerful ally, would you believe me?... I guess not! Don't worry, you are not the only one who would disagree. But if you are among those who would be open to answer “yes”, I recommend that you continue reading.
Anxiety is defined as a state of mind characterized by great restlessness, intense excitement, and extreme insecurity. So far, it sounds pretty negative, but new neurology studies have shown that anxiety is a "skill" that we, as humans, have to predict the future, seek safety, and become aware of risk.
That is, when you feel anxiety, what you are really experiencing is a natural state of alertness, of warning, which asks you to return to your comfort zone. When we set goals that are outside of our comfort zone, we are stretching that invisible “rubber band”, and like rubber bands, our brain will respond with resistance.
We may think that anxiety on its own is a state that occurs even when we are not looking to change anything, and it simply happens, because such is life. It is very common that when you ask someone "why are you anxious?" they answer ... "I don't know"; therefore, it is clear that we are associating anxiety with stress, but we must learn to differentiate one from the other.
Anxiety can actually manifest when we do not like our job, and consciously or unconsciously we would like to change it; when we don't have the house we want, the health we want; that is, when we feel bad about our achievements, or the path we have taken. And then you will say, "but don’t you say that it is my mental state that tells me to return to my comfort zone?" ... in that case, which freaking comfort zone? And it is true, it seems that anxiety simply tells us that we live in a state of dissatisfaction, and therein lies the interesting thing. However, there are two things you can do:
- Accept that nothing will change; be grateful for what you have, value it and be happy with it. "Live life intensely" as the song says ... you should be happy with that job, that house, those problems, just stop resisting! ... How fucked up is that? I would not recommend that.
- Embrace anxiety; admit that it is only our brain fucking with us, signaling that we should not even dare to think about growing, because we would return to the path of least resistance issue (link) that we had already talked about before. The important thing is that we recognize that if we want to progress, we will live with anxiety forever; if I stop feeling anxiety, I am not making enough progress.
But ... how the hell do I embrace anxiety? It seems absurd, but you have to start by identifying the thoughts that make you anxious. Even change the words or phrases you use; for example: I hate my job!, I want to quit!, I'm sick!, "better the devil you know than the devil you don’t", knowing that you cannot abdicate and that staying there generates anxiety. You could replace these statements with "this job is just one step in the way", "I am working to find a new one". Followed by reflection when asking yourself "what can I do today to change this job?". Anxiety may not completely disappear, but listen to me and see for yourself how with less severe thoughts you will begin to experience it in a more constructive way.
To conclude, I will only tell you that anxiety is, in fact, that mental state that wants you to not move, that wants you to go back. And stress is more a state of overflow, which causes your negative thoughts to occupy all your day so that later you feel you have no way out of your current situation ... I think many people confuse them. For that reason, we will talk about stress more thoroughly later on, without a doubt.
You can read more about in https://ieip.es/ansiedad-negativa-positiva-abc/ y https://www.objetivobienestar.com/lado-positivo-ansiedad_40861_102.html
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