Anxiety, a Modern Plague Causing Billions To Suffer Needlessly

What is anxiety, and are you helpless when it overwhelms you?

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“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, for he that is so wants nothing.” Seneca

Anxiety has been my companion for almost as long as I can remember.

It is somewhat of a modern plague, tormenting the young and the old around the world. Statistically, roughly 20% (¹) of people above 18 suffer from anxiety, and about a third report severe issues (in the US). Over the last couple of years, COVID and the resurgence of fears regarding a possible nuclear conflict between nations have only added to that issue. 

Sometimes, it comes in a mild form, an inconvenience accompanied by an unpleasant sensation in my stomach and chest. At other times, it can get quite severe and debilitating. It has taken me a long time to accept that anxiety comes and goes, often on its own accord. But when it got really bad, I was forced to deal with it head-on. 

That’s when I learned that it has nothing to do with outside events in my life, despite a firm appearance of cause and effect, but with my mind. Those who suffer from anxiety will inevitably fall under its spell and feel helpless and desperate when it hits. It makes us believe that our situation is dangerous and that something terrible will happen any moment now.

It may be a conscious awareness of the danger or an ever-present feeling underneath that won’t leave us alone. We feel trapped in the firm grip it holds over us and often cannot escape it, or so it seems.

First of all - I’m no doctor. If you suffer from severe anxiety giving you panic attacks, please consult professionals and do whatever you must to alleviate some of the pressure of your mental walls closing down on you. What I share is the result of my personal experiences and an opinion.

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future.” - Lao Tzu

Understanding Anxiety

The most important thing to understand about anxiety is that it has nothing to do with outside events and situations, only with your mind. 

Your mind, however, is influenced by all the usual culprits, such as what you consume physically (food, drink) or mentally (news, people, events), how healthy you are, and what life situation you happen to have found yourself in. Situations, people, and events are what they are. Anxiety is not caused by them alone but by how you react, interpret, and how much you worry about them. Different people react and perceive the same situations in different ways. Some will hardly care, others will be drowning in worry, for example.

Most common advice will have you take certain supplements, work out, keep yourself busy, or, in severe cases, get all drugged up so that it makes you care less about everything. I won’t tell you not to reach for these physical remedies. Try them and see how they feel. I believe these can help but don’t solve the underlying problem.

Anxiety will stop us from doing all sorts of things we would generally love. Anxiety and fear are indeed our own worst enemies. We won’t walk up to people we want to meet. We won’t apply for that job we so desperately desire. We won’t make those dreaded cold calls to acquire new clients. Some can’t even step a foot outside their homes.

People who haven’t suffered anxiety can never understand it. 

This is because anxiety is not some outside force that troubles us. It’s a lot like a bug we’ve caught and shows up on blood tests. It’s not a broken bone or some visible disease. So, what is it then?

Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.

There is an important key in that statement. Anxiety pertains to our perception of some future event, consciously or unconsciously, that we fear. We can then derive these crucial factors of anxiety:

• Anxiety will almost always be attached to some future event.
  It does not and cannot exist in the present moment! This is one of the most important lessons here.

• Anxiety is caused by fear.
  This fear could be of something undesired happening or the fear of something desired not happening. We may be aware of it, or we may not.

• Our desires and attachments cause us to be anxious.
  Lessen the desires or attachments (to outcomes, things, or people), and our anxiety will also lessen. The more we want something, the more anxious we will feel about the uncertainty of attaining it.

• Anxiety is a feeling, an emotion.
  Feelings aren’t some outside force free of our control. We can manage anxiety, and no one can do it for us. Realize it or not, the severity of anxiety you feel depends solely on your mind.

• Our minds cause feelings.
  Yes, other things can also influence them, but 99% of emotions directly result from how our mind interprets things in the outside world and how much we are susceptible to their inner tortures. Our minds are entirely under our control if we choose to take the ranes.

• Anxiety is a habit.
  Our brains have learned to think in a certain way and will always react similarly, causing us these same feelings. Habits can be changed, but doing so takes time and effort.

• By refusing to take control of our minds and, with it, our anxiety, we are robbing ourselves of power.
  We have chosen (and it is a choice) the path of victimhood and eternal reliance on drugs, alcohol, or other momentary escapes. It’s a dead end that can still help when anxiety is at its worst. If only to lessen the pain of the moment.

I will be writing about these points in the coming posts, so subscribe and learn how you can defeat anxiety all by your lonesome self. I am preparing a post full of tools you can use to combat anxiety. It will be coming out soon.

I know that you feel like you have no control over anxiety.

You feel trapped. It appears hopeless and never-ending. But it’s a lie, an elaborate illusion of your mind. In fact, you’re the only one who has the power to stop your anxiety from flaming up! 

I will show you how I deal with my anxiety and how you can alleviate your suffering by understanding what causes anxiety, how to reprogram your mind, and how to deal with anxiety when it hits you, completely overpowering you like an unstoppable wave. 

I’ve already written some posts that may help you in the meantime:

• How to alleviate anxiety in the moment?

• How to deal with fears head-on, analyze them, and overcome their grip on you?

• How to face your fears and alleviate the pain of a doctor’s visit?

• How to detach yourself from your mind, become the observer, and lessen its torment? 

• How to handle a tragic event like a natural disaster?

• How and why not to worry about things outside your control, like war?

• How to overcome the anxiety of having children in an uncertain world?

I hope to help some of you, although I probably can’t help all of you. We are so very different, you and I. If you suffer greatly, please see a professional. Don’t stop looking for answers, as no pill will ever solve your problem, but it may save your life when it gets overwhelming. 

“When I see an anxious person I ask myself what do they want? For if a person wasn’t wanting something out of their control, why would they be stricken by anxiety?” Epictetus

Hang in there, friends. You will learn to manage anxiety. It can be done!

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1. Statistical information: source one, source two, source three.