« Nothing but a bizarre tragedy in this bathroom story | Main | Hey that was fun — our local newspaper ran my ‘Reader’s Letter’ »
Anxiety — hard to live without it, how do you deal with it?
By Gary | March 14, 2008
Most people, I'm sure, suffer from anxiety at least once in awhile. For some of us, anxiety is something we struggle with every day.
I call it "worry," what do you call it? But whether you call it "worry," "concerns for detail," "anxiety," or just plain old "fear," if it's something in your life regularly, it can be a major problem.
I was reading an news story just now about the singer Madonna, in which she admits to terrific anxiety attacks during her performances:
"I have moments where I feel incredibly invincible and know that I have the audience in my hand. I know that everything is absolutely perfect. And then I have panic attacks, where I feel like everyone is breathing my air, and I might just die on stage. I normally try to turn my back to the audience, take a deep breath and remind myself that it's all temporary."
That's at least two things she and I have in common. (As it happens, we both were born on August 16, though she's 11 years younger.) I don't mean anxiety during our "performances," I mean occasional strong anxiety attacks.
My wife, Shirley, who has only been seriously worried or anxious about something probably half a dozen times in her entire LIFE, tells me my childhood background probably turned me into an anxious person. Perhaps she's onto part of the problem at least. My mom died when I was 8, my dad was an alcoholic who was sometimes physically abusive, I pretty much lived "on my own" making most of my decisions and finding work and income, etc., by the time I was 16. All that stuff, I suppose, leads me to some insecurity.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about battling frequent anxiety attacks has to do with the spiritual dimension of my life. I am a Christian. I spent most of my life in a very conservative, "fundamentalist," evangelical background. Nowadays I would characterize myself as more "mainline Christian." But when I say that I in no way wish to diminish the importance of my daily personal relationship with Jesus Christ as my Savior.
A big part of my faith has to do with regular reading and meditation on Scripture. And one of the highlights of my understanding of Scripture relates to a very well-known Scripture passage written by the Apostle Paul about anxiety:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6,7).
So how hard is that to do? Like everything else related to "real life," it ain't easy. But it does work. It takes one of those moment-by-moment efforts, but relying on my faith and my relationship with Jesus certainly DOES work.
That's the end of my little mini-sermon for today. (One of the "occupational hazards" of being an ex-preacher, I guess. Shameless Plug Coming: I also write an almost-daily-when-I-get-there devotional blog related to what the Bible means in our lives. I invite you to go hang out there, too.) I promise to do my best to keep the sermonizing to a bare minimum. On the other hand, this blog's all about life and living it -- so we can't avoid things like spiritual/religious discussions, can we?
So, enough of my rambling about MY anxieties and how I work on coping with them. How about you out there, dear readers? Is anxiety anything of a problem in your life? How do you deal with it? If it isn't an issue for you, perhaps you can tell us how you cope with common everyday worries and fears? Talk to us, please.
Meanwhile -- what can you and I do today to take time to help someone take more pleasure in life?
Technorati Tags: anxiety, dealing with anxiety, biblical answers to anxiety, take time for living
Topics: Lifestyle News |
March 14th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Excellent post. It’s what I’ve been thinking about a lot, too. Actually, I was on my way to write a blog post about stress! Everything from technical problems to financial problems to blog-reading over-stimulation is contributing to information overload. So these days, I’m constantly reminding myself “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, through prayer and supplication, make your requests known to God…” ahhh.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Thank. I’m glad it was helpful to you.
Very good point you make, too, about the “information overload” aspects of anxiety. I hadn’t thought about it that way.
Blessings!