Anxiety: Healing, Letting Go, and the Power of Belief

Healing is letting go. Letting go of all the negative thoughts, emotions, and memories. it's living in the moment, not the past. If you truly want to find peace of mind and even body, you must let go of everything that holds you back. Negative energies serve only to hold us down and keep us reliving the past. Holding on to negative energies even further perpetuates the flow of more negativity. If you live life through anxiety's veil, you will see only what it allows you to see. you won't see the good memories, or the happy events we've been a part of. You won't see your children growing more and more each day because you'll be too caught up in trivial things. The fact of the matter is, you cannot allow past hurts and decisions to dictate your future. YOU are in control. YOU have the ability to turn things around. It's easy to let anxiety present us with a warped sense if perception. It's easy to get caught up in the day to day struggles. I used to experience panic attacks every day. Gradually, I let go. I stopped caring what strangers thought of me because I realized that I was putting more weight in the words they said and the things they did more than they were. I was empowering everyone else by accepting their opinions as my own. It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter what you do or say. Most of the time, it only matters to you and no one else.

I overcame social anxiety by means of exposure therapy. I hated talking to people. I hated going out. I hated interacting. So what did I do? Stand up comedy. Suddenly all my negative experiences and emotions were fuel for jokes and routines. Every bad thing that happened to me was now fair game to be turned into something funny. The more I laughed at myself, the more others laughed with me. Anxiety went from a road block, to a catapult for my material. Suddenly, I went from second guessing myself to receiving tons of positive feedback. I was somebody. I had an identity. I belonged to a group of people who do what many others can't. I was a comedian. When I'm up on stage, I am in control. The audience reacts just the way I planned it out in my routine (most of the time.) I wore this like a badge of honor. Suddenly every bad thing that happened to me was funny. Always searching for some new material, I developed a new mind set. I had to find the humor in everything. Good things happened to me? I win. Bad things happen to me? I win.

Now, do I expect you to get out and start doing stand up? No. but the entire basis of this is exposure therapy. You MUST face your fear and prove to yourself that it's not as bad as you think, because it probably isnt. Anxiety exaggerates everything. It's misleading. Don't listen to it. Take baby steps. Say hello to a stranger. Offer an opinion in a discussion. Make eye contact. Speak confidently. Chances are you'll never see strangers again, so even if you get a negative reaction, who cares? It really actually doesn't matter. It doesnt. All that matters is what you decide, not your anxiety. The power to change your life lies within you. All you have to do is use it. Stop empowering others by letting their opinions weigh so heavily. Who are they? Seriously, who ARE they, and what have they done that's so great and so much "better" that their opinions suddenly became truths? An opinion is NOT a truth. Look in the mirror, decide who you are and BE that, but be sure you back up your perception with BELIEFS that you hold about yourself. Unwavering beliefs. Beliefs so strong that no one can make you doubt them. When you decide on a belief, hold true to it. It's going to be hard at first like all things, but the more you reinforce it, the stronger it gets and soon enough NO ONE will be able to bring you down. That is the power of belief.