ANXIETY AND WORRY
How much time do you spend each day worrying about tomorrow? I think it is a fair estimate that many folks spend lots and lots of time projecting what will happen tomorrow, next week, or next year. Webster defines anxiety as “a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.” Does this definition describe you at all? I know that there was a time in my life that it described me: worry about how I would ever kick my drug and alcohol problem, worry about how I would pay my bills, where I would work, where I would live and how I would eat. I worried about sick family members, what people thought of me, and where my life was going. I worried about everything. I trusted no one, had zero faith, and certainly did not believe in any kind of God. I believed in lack, fear, and pain. Crazy, isn’t it? Maybe not. I am a firm supporter of the belief that most of human suffering can be traced back to FEAR. Fear of what might or could happen. Fear of not having enough – money, power, possessions, friends, freedom, or losing something we already possess – and so on. In a word, FEAR OF AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.
I think that in today’s day and age we are conditioned to be afraid. Click on the news and what do you find? Headline stories about gang and school shootings, plant closings and unemployment rates, war, disease, accidents, rape, murder, robbery and rising gas prices. The commercials during your favorite news program are certainly no better. It seems that we are force fed information about buying more insurance – home, life, or automotive – for what just might happen. Buy more insurance just to be safe, because the end is probably near (or so we are led to believe). We watch countless commercials on how to get rich quick – most of which are quite comical – so that we can become instantly financially secure. Have you seen the one that promises to make you a millionaire in 90 days by selling real estate? All you must do is purchase such and such book; such and such CD (for a few hundred dollars) and you can almost instantly change the state of your financial wellbeing. Seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? I will let you be the judge of that one. How about all the commercials about weight loss? Are you worried that your health isn’t up to par, and you’ve decided to do something about it? If that is so, there is certainly a magic pill or some vibrating gizmo that you wrap around your midsection that will melt away the excess fat. What about all the commercials that force feed us the notion that we need a pill for everything? If you are worried, take this pill. If you are depressed, take that pill. If you have issues with your “male hardware” and want to be more intimate with your partner, take a pill for that, too. You wouldn’t want your spouse or loved to see you as human as and less than perfect would you? Heavens no!
While I am an advocate for mental health treatment and I do believe that some individuals do need pharmaceutical assistance for some mental health disorders – let’s say clinical depression and anxiety – I am also an advocate for the notion that a large number of the people who are on medication for anxiety probably do not even need it. It becomes a crutch for not dealing with life on life’s terms. Instead of facing problems head on, we have been bred to just take a pill. In the coming weeks and months, I will be discussing just what you can do in order to overcome your fears the right way. It will require a great amount of faith, trust and hard work…but these personal investments far outweigh the other option: CONTINUING TO BE AFRAID. Thank you for reading. Keep Chopping Wood & Carrying Water.
~Paul
I welcome you to explore my book or various social media projects. Once again, thank you for reading.
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