Anxiety has become part of our living on this planet existence. It’s not healthy but it can be reality.
It’s no longer for just those born with the strong trait (ahem, Vatas). 🙋🏻♀️
Anxiety is part of our culture’s zeitgeist… and this article is about helping you remove daily anxiety in your life.
Because anxious feelings is not a part of the way you’re intended to live.
…Some stress, yes. But not anxiety.
And you can get out of the anxiety lifestyle in your inner spiritual journey.
…At least that was my story as I developed better discernment in my life as I defined what the Universe meant to me growing into faith… relying less on what I could do and more on what I was made for.
And for one, that led me out of the anxiety work lifestyle (aka corporate work).
…These days you hear so many people leaving their cushy golden-handcuff jobs for more purpose and passion filled work… free of anxious environments that cubicle walls and office hierarchy create in our remote world.
And the pandemic was a radical change disruptor that no one likes to talk about much these days, but started the whole Life pivoting movement.
That’s when today’s anxious culture began…
Anxiety was looming in the air all during the pandemic.
…That affected changes in how we did our daily lives. We experienced job losses and technology changes like AI (making some previous jobs obsolete).
And even now, in the post-pandemic inflation era where the dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.
Everyone has been impacted in some ways.
It’s in the air.
So anxiety is contagious.
…Oh, and then there’s politics.
I grew up and lived in the Washington D.C. metro most my life, so that was front and center for me even though I never ran in those circles, and I choose to talk about it less because I know it creates divides.
But it was always in the air.
And the biggest elephant in the room: climate change. There’s no air in this world that isn’t affected by those two common “c” words….
And climate change has affected every type of business. If you think about cars, home insurance, shipping, and of course… food and farmers, to name a few.
That has made for a tougher and more complicated life in many ways.
Plus, there are so many more daily distractions.
Finding the inner-self becomes much more of a challenge.
I grew up before the internet entered the world so I remember the way it was…
And then social media was born.
But I don’t think social media, television, and streaming devices in and of themselves cause more anxiety.
Because having information available at our phone fingertips can calm anxiety.
…Like, you don’t have to go to the library to research limited information anymore or operate in the dark.
How we used to find our way around town with maps… or meet up with others based on watch time alone was operating under the Stone Ages compared to today.
And everywhere you turn over the past few years, you hear wellness recommendations to turn your devices off or spend less time on social media (like those old days).
So people hop on the social media strike bandwagon..
But how has that helped anxiety?
We don’t seem any better off as a society if you check the stats.
People are still feeling anxious today.
With devices, these days you know what you’re signing up for… you knowingly choose or change your friends and what you want showing up in your feed.
It’s no surprise anymore why you’re getting certain information in your feeds.
So the information we choose to get is what makes the difference.
The enriching information I choose that inspires me is educational, and/or entertaining for me.
I learn something new and what I positively intake, challenges my mind.
I shut off everything else. I’m not tempted by negative garbage that provokes anxiety entering in the mind-body..
…That’s a healthy choice we each get to make..
And like most, I watch shows everyday. I like HGTV and food channels where you can trust that there won’t be something inappropriate shown where you can’t change the channel fast enough.
I share this with you because from my journey, this is how I know the healthy choice is deeper than self-discipline.
For me, it has to do with aligning myself with spiritual purposes and who I want to be and how I want to feel at the end of the day.
And if those ideas inspire you, but your anxious feelings don’t support that, the starting questions you can ask yourself are… What do you want your life to be about? What healthy change in your daily life would make you feel better?
And when you’ve decided on those or similar answers, then you can come up with a matching plan that you’re daily happy with and can stick to with discipline because that’s what you want your life to be about.
Your wants are stronger pulls than being tempted by the garbage-in information… and being aware, you’re no longer interested in heading in that other direction. So from there, you make small tweaks to bring in more healthy influences and eliminate more of the garbage.
One simple goal could be: I want to feel good by the end of the day.
Then, like an invisible string, the healthier ways are drawing you in and your deeper spirit is helping you along in that direction… 🧭 The Universe is watching 😊
And that better ensures you don’t have anxiety the same way you did by the end of the day and when you wake up.
Anxiety For Young People
I had inner struggle with this myself in my 20s and younger where I felt pulled into culture’s definitions of happiness that builds up ego and was growing my pride.
Then I came to a point where I felt so depleted by the end of the day and I wondered why. It was like I needed an internal shower cleansing from all the garbage I had in my mind that mostly came from the external influences surrounding my life.
But gradually I became more content with less wanting of those ways, and that developed a deeper, calmer sense of happiness.
I moved away from mean gossip, judgment, and noisy/busy influences.
Those created unnecessary more fear and anxiety, shutting out calm and peace.
Believing that there’s a better plan or reason for what was happening to me in situations also saved me from anxious moments or the old ways I would have reacted.
If you go to church regularly, you know how it feels on loving Church Sunday. But by work Monday you’re back to the anxious rat race and people.
Letting that Sunday headspace permeate more days, helps to quiet down the negative external influences. Instead of being so heavily influenced, you and I could be the healthy influence to ourselves and others.
“Be the Change.”
It’s the negative chatter and staying busy that can keep us small.
It was like that as kids too…
We would see non-age appropriate footage that created nightmares for years to come.
Think of movies like classics, Mommie Dearest and Jaws, that left scary impressions on a 13 year old or younger mind that doesn’t know the world as well as a 30-year old.
Young brains don’t forget as easily and that can haunt forever in brain storage.
It’s the more mature mind that knows how to file those memories away as not real life. That comes from having more life years and experience.
And that’s what I think is happening to the youth today as they’re in their dark virtual reality worlds where an 80/20 balance deep breath of healthy real life would help.
For any of us, if the environment you’re around 80% of your waking hours are keeping you in the dark, then finding a way out is going to give you the best life you deserve. Just something to think about. 💭
