When I clean my house, I tend to listen to music or other audios I love. I struggle with anxiety big time since August, and of course I want to learn how to overcome anxiety to become a more happy self.
Imagine a Life without Anxiety
This question asked in the article, “If you didn’t feel anxious anymore what would you do with your life?”
This simple concept really struck me so much I stopped cleaning my dishes, and grabbed a pen and paper to jot it down. Seriously, if I did not feel anxiety anymore how would my life look different?
Honestly, it’s hard for me to even fathom what my life would look like. As far back as I can remember, anxiety consumed my life. In part, this arises from my childhood trauma, and anxiety tagged along like a parasite.
After finishing the short ten minute podcast from The Anxiety Podcast I listened to it again.
So, here are my take-always I hope help you learn how to deal with anxiety and build self-confidence, because anxiety truly erodes our existence.
Three Take Aways for How to Overcome Anxiety
Bring Anxiety Along for the Ride
You must learn to bring anxiety along for the ride. I call my anxiety Sandy. You see, Sandy really put the fear, doubts, and paralyzes me in every aspect of my life.
In order to deal with anxiety and gain the confidence I need, I must bring her along for the ride called life. Will it always be a fun ride? No, but if you don’t move forward NOTHING, and I mean nothing, happens.
This happened to me on more occasions than I would like in my life. I remember back when I started Inspired Housewife, I intended it as a way to keep my son’s medical history and story for others to read, and to write about things I desired.
Then, I started to share what inspired me, and many of you really enjoyed it. You all enjoyed it so much that many of my posts went viral. Sad to say, however, anxiety and self-doubt crept into my life, because I had no idea what the heck I was even doing.
Consequently, when I could capitalized on my creative accident, I instead stopped writing for two years.
Yep, instead of bringing Sandy along for the ride in my life. I let her paralyze me, and in doing so, I quit something that brought me joy; something that let my creative juices flow.
Now, I kick myself looking back. It’s life, but my first tip is to bring anxiety along for the ride in life no matter how hard.
Learn How to be Patient
Patience is not just for your kids or those around you. Patience is something you need to learn, something you need to foster within yourself.
All to often, we become our own worst enemies, putting unneeded pressures on us to live to society’s standards. This is something I struggle with tremendously.
Patience was never my virtue as a woman, EVER! It’s a flaw of mine and one I work on daily, but I never truly thought about how to be patient with myself.
Yes, I deal daily patience for my kids, my spouse or those on my team Nonetheless, it never occurred to me maybe a little self-love requires learning to build more self-confidence through patience.
One way to do this is through really listening to how you feel, NOT how you think!
When you become as impatient of a person as I, you tend to race into projects and say yes too quickly. More infrequently do we say yes to stopping and taking the time to say is this good for me, is this something that will make me happy, or is this going to push me in a way or build my dreams.
When we bring patience along for the ride, just like anxious Sandy, we learn how to build self confidence simply by learning mental boundaries.
Just do it!
My last take away, which I believe teaches you how to reduce anxiety, is by simply doing. Have you ever told yourself “I will start x…. when I feel less tired or when life slows down, or the list goes on and on. Yep, I’ve been there and done it many times.
As I mentioned, my anxiety this Fall was extremely awful since August, and I thought maybe if I took a couple months off I would feel better. After about two weeks I did not feel better, and in fact my self respect decreased, my depression rose.
Sandy became even more of a thorn in my side. I wanted to be creative, to help more women in my beauty business, but quitting for a time failed to do that.
You must look at what you can cut out in your life, create the goals to do the necessary, and then just do it.
Once you plug into life, no matter how scary or how hard, I know dealing with anxiety becomes much easier. Your confidence will grow, and you will find you can do more than what you gave yourself credit.
In Summary
No secret on how to overcome anxiety lurks on the horizon. No one-size-fits-all strategy pertains to how to build self-confidence except by bringing anxiety along for the ride, learning patience within yourself, and just doing the seemingly intimidating and insurmountable.
So again, I pose the question I did at the beginning, “If you didn’t feel anxious anymore, what would you do with your life?”
I can tell you for me I would laugh more, I would be more creative, I would sleep better, and as a result my energy would be greater. I would be more grateful, and feel more confident. My spouse and children would have the best of me, not what’s left over after my anxiety took the little I had left to give.
I challenge you stop today and become mindful of your anxiety. Don’t overthink, but understand you are worthy to feel safe and happy.
Please share a take away you had below in the comments or your personal methods for how to overcome anxiety in your life.
