how to deal with anxiety

Do you worry about worrying too much? 

I really hope you laughed reading that. Because I did. When I finally got all my thoughts down about the anxiety I've been having and how I get so frustrated with myself because of how much I worry about things.. So then not only do I have worry, but then added worry because I'm worrying too much, then on top of that lets add frustration with myself because I shouldn't be doing that, then lastly we can add isolation because why do I worry so much, no one else does! Everyone else has things to worry about but they don't freak out about them like I do!

Sound familiar? Let me free you. 

Worry is ok. 

Stress is ok. 

Everyone deals with it. 

What’s not ok is beating yourself up over feeling a certain way. 

To be worried is ok. To be overly worried is even ok. 

Sometimes you’ve got to accept whatever fact it is that you’re fighting before you’re able to help yourself. And actually, this is the first and hardest part of dealing with anxiety. 

I was stuck in this horrible pattern of not being ok with the fact that I felt worried. Which led me to a point where I wouldn't allow myself to do the thing I needed to do to console myself (like making that call, or checking on whoever) because I felt like that would mean anxiety won. 

That is called torture and I can promise you it's NOT healing. 

So accept it. Now let’s work on it....

1 Peter 5:7 says cast your cares on Him, for he cares for you.

You know aside from God wanting to help us handle our concerns the fact that this sentence is in the Bible lets us know that He knew we would have cares. He knew we would have worry. That right there is enough to encourage me! I don’t have to be upset with myself for feeling anxious. Jesus knew we would have to deal with this. Which is why he gave us instruction on how to handle it. What matters most is what you do with it. 

He says cast it on me, because I care for you. Allow me to take the weight off your shoulders and help you solve your problems. 

I heard an interesting message on anxiety and it brought out a point that pride was heavily linked to anxiety. Weird huh? Let me explain. 

So when your anxious, do you thoughts ever sound like “I shouldn’t be worrying about this” “I should be able to handle this on my own” yeah? Mine do. So get this. 

By dropping the pride "I should be able to do this alone", and allowing yourself to get help, like talking to God about your worries. Or talking to a friend. That means letting go of pride. Allowing yourself to need help. Understanding that sometimes you can’t do it alone, you can’t figure it out by yourself. And maybe you need God’s help to come in and help you learn how to reverse the worry into worship and gratefulness. 

Maybe you need to let yourself be weak in a moment and be ok with that and in those moments you better be loving towards yourself. Be gracious towards yourself, please. 

You know the thing that has helped me the most with my worry? The exact opposite of what I was doing, humorously. So allowing myself to call that person or actually being curious about why I'm worried instead of automatically getting upset with myself for being concerned. Letting myself consider if my worry is legitimate. I wish I could lie and say that all of them have been, but some of them, by the end of thinking through it, I find myself laughing at the fact that I let myself get worked up over something so simple. 

I'm learning. 

I'm getting better.

I still deal with anxiety somedays, but let me tell you it is so much less than before.

and now instead of beating myself up for it, I allow myself to feel a tender love for my mind. Just like I would my little girl if she was worried. Just like I would someone I care about who was dealing with anxiety.

Jesus gave us emotions. Jesus gave us a heart full of love to care for people, so when that is attacked it just means your full of life. Just remember you are in control of your emotions, they shouldn't control you. And in the midst of that anxiety remind yourself this..

“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”‭‭ Isaiah‬ ‭26:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ This verse doesn’t mean we will never struggle or deal anxieties and that we’ll live in a world of rainbows and unicorns... what it means is we have hope. It means in the middle of our struggles we can be at peace knowing that God’s grace will come in and turn our struggles into victories. Always. So even though it’s hard right now, it will get better!

I was driving in the car and the song Let it happen" by United Pursuit came on. The verse says "Full of life now, full of passion, thats how He made you, just let it happen". Those lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks and are what brought me to this revelation which I hope can help someone else as well!

If you haven't heard “let it happen” I highly recommend you listen to it. I’ll leave a link here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvsAV-MgGao