The Anxiety is NOT me: Anxiety Part 4

Last year, I did a small series of posts about Anxiety.  This is a continuation of those posts.  Today I would like to talk about seeing anxiety apart from yourself.  You are not your anxiety.  Why is this significant?  Because it frees you from the guilt and shame of what the anxiety brings into your life.  It also helps you to see that you always have choices.  Those of us with anxiety often become "stress paralyzed." We feel stuck and feel as though we have no choices.  We will always be condemned and doomed to this state.  Not. True. My friends.  There is ALWAYS hope.  There are always choices!

When I was younger, I had a very irrational fear.  I focused on this fear and it went around and around and around inside me like a hamster running on its wheel.  The OCD part of me tried to remedy this fear by saying an affirmation over and over and over in my mind.  I would write the affirmation over and over and over.  I thought that if I didn't say or write the affirmation, I would suddenly be overcome by the irrational fear and turn into something that I did not want to be.  I didn't tell anyone at the time about the embarrassing need to write and say a silly affirmation!

What I missed then was that it wasn't me!  It was the anxiety that was causing me to fixate on the supposed problem.  When you realize that you are not your anxiety, you can focus on the real problem...the anxiety!!  You can stop the wheel.  You can get professional help if needed.  You can cease giving the irrational thoughts power.  They can just pass through your head, and you don't have to feel guilty about them; you don't have to analyze them; you can just let them go!  Don't hold on to them!  See how free that feels?

When I had that realization this week, I wanted to go back in time and visit the adolescent me.  I wanted to give myself a hug and say, "It's ok. You're not broken.  You are not bad.  You have anxiety, but you are not your anxiety.  You are so much more."

We have choices.  We have hope.  We have love.  And most of all, we have the Atonement of Jesus Christ that covers it all.  It covers me and makes me more than I could ever hope to be on my own.

I hope you see yourself as Christ sees you.  When He looks at you, He sees so much more than your anxiety or depression or disability or imperfection.  He sees His brother or His sister.  He understands and offers grace.  He loves you.  Truly, truly loves YOU.  May you feel that in the center of your very being.

Much love,
Heather