Worrywart Life
Is anxiety ever well spent?
This year has been a stress test of what my anxiety is actually good for. Am I at my best when I worry? Or am I just making things harder for myself?
When confronting my fears, I’m forced to separate reasonable fears from ones that are merely amplified in my head.
This cartoon from 2016 illustrates internal negotiations I often have with myself:
Lately, I’ve had to reexamine my relationship to anxiety as well — a milder cousin of fear that is usually hanging around, rent-free.
For example, historically, I have a lot of social anxiety. In person, this might not be obvious because of how outgoing I can appear to be and how much practice I've had outside of my comfort zone. But the anxiety is still there and crops up when I'm pre-gaming social activities, no matter how small. I have strategies for convincing myself that catastrophe won't befall me if I attend an event where other people will be present. Sometimes, it goes well and other times it doesn't. Either way, I survive just the same.
So, I need to ask myself: what does my social anxiety bring to the table?
Not much, actually. If I do an inventory, this might be one worry I can let go of.
Fear and anxiety still have a role in my life, but I’m learning that I can lighten the load by taking the time I need to process things at my own pace. There are plenty of other things to worry about. (Given how much there is, it’s a miracle any of us function!)
Are there any anxieties you can let go of or put down for the time being? I know it’s not always possible, but here’s wishing your burdens lighter.
Hope my conversation with the elephant in this week’s comic strip made you chuckle a little.
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Love this one, Connie. No matter how introverted or extroverted you may be there is a message in here that resonates and is helpful to all of us. Thanks for sharing your insights and talents with us.
I want to write something thoughtful but my brain is telling me I need to eat. And I'm like, Well, brain, if I don't leave her a comment now I'll forget, besides, you know I have trouble finding her and other people I enjoy reading when I try to find them on this app, so chill brain while I try to write something encouraging, ok?
Brains can be SO demanding!!
Having said that:
I think, for some of us, our brains, meaning the more practical/logical side of us can try to override our creative selves which in my opinion goes along more with our heart/compassionate selves. And I'm not sure, but I think that gap is at least partly where anxiety lives. I mean, right now my brain is trying to tell me that I need to hurry up and go eat so I can get some practical chores done today, when my heart just wants to slow down and write to, connect with, a fellow creative, and also think about my latest creative projects instead of the chores....and that gap is where anxious thoughts live like: Am I taking too long writing this when she probably doesn't even have time to read it?
Well, anyway. I got that written and after proofreading if I don't chicken out because the brain says Who Cares? I'll hit the blue arrow to send.
Thanks for being your self and sharing with us!