Take Control

I would like to congratulate you for getting to this point of the book, as we are now moving on to probably my favorite section. We are going to focus on some ways that you can take control of your anxiety. Other than finding remedies to tame your anxiety, there are mindsets that can help you take charge as well. This is my favorite section because we get to focus on why the topic of anxiety does not need to be super depressing, there actually are positives as well. These mindsets and practices are some of the biggest reasons I have been able to accept my own anxiety.

We will discuss the ways your anxiety can help you in your daily life. As well as, examine why you should use your anxiety as a marker to push yourself further. In the end, this chapter is all about taking everything you have learned about yourself and applying it to your life. I hope that the mindsets discussed in this chapter are as eye-opening for you as they are for me.

Learn How Your Anxiety Can Help You

Believe it or not, there are many ways in which your anxiety helps you. I know how this sounds but bear with me. I use my anxiety to help me every day. Naturally, I am quite lazy when it comes to schoolwork. The majority of the time I can’t find anything I would want to do less, other than maybe go on a run. My anxiety makes sure that I get shit done. Relying on my anxiety lets me know when it’s time to start working and when it’s okay to give it a rest. Without that little bastard whispering the idea of failure into my ear, I’m not sure I would ever turn something in on time. It keeps me in check which is super helpful because pretty much everyone around me sees me as a hard worker. Which I guess I am, but not by choice. If I had it my way, I would be kicking back with pizza every night catching up on some mindless TV. But no, my anxiety makes me a responsible member of society. Anyway, while my anxiety sucks for so many reasons, it is the driving force behind my strong work ethic. I am reliable because my anxiety is reliable.

Not only can I depend on my anxiety to get me to start my work, but it also ensures that I am creating quality work too. I suffer from so much unwanted perfectionism, that I literally find myself re-reading and re-checking assignments I submitted weeks ago (as if I could fix them after the fact). While in the moment, this feeling is not the best. I have to admit, it is nice to know that when I am working, I am working to the best of my ability.

While those are just two examples of what my anxiety has given me, there is a hell of a lot more too. Another small one is that I will never be late for anything. You would not believe the number of times I have found myself awkwardly waiting in my car before an

appointment. The point is that while this might seem negative in context, it has also been beneficial for me. Reframing anxiety this way has helped me to accept it as well. In the end anxiety is there to help you. Sometimes it misses the mark, but you should thank your anxiety for these occasional benefits. I know that there are others out there experiencing the positive side effects of the disorder as well. Even though anxiety sucks the majority of the time, you have to admit, it’s not all bad

Don’t Let Your Anxiety Hold You Back

We have covered a lot in this book, but if you only take one thing away, please don’t let your anxiety hold you back. Anxiety easily makes you feel uncomfortable. But embracing that feeling is one of the best things you can do. Without having those experiences that make you uncomfortable you are never going to grow as a person. If I could go back in time and do all the things that anxiety prevented me from, I totally would. Throughout high school, I consistently denied myself the opportunities to try new things. Joining the softball team crossed my mind, but one comment about how much commitment it was, and the idea vanished. Same experience about joining the yearbook club, one awkward meeting, and again I was scared away. Socially anxious, I feared all the bad outcomes of even trying. Even though it felt safe in my bubble, I regret it, severely. Looking back now, I know those experiences would have been enjoyable if I gave them a chance. When my senior year of high school came around, I realized just how little I had done over the past four years. Seeing that my time was running out, I told myself to try every opportunity that came my way. Surprisingly, sticking to that promise, I loved that year so much. Yes of course I still experienced anxiety, but that was inevitable. Why not make the most out of your life? So many good memories have stuck with me from my senior year. New experiences are scary, but that’s what’s great about them. Once you get past that wall of fear you begin to realize that maybe it wasn’t so scary, to begin with. Those realizations are important because they allow you to register that not everything needs to be intimidating. I concluded during college, that if something scares me, do it. Those experiences are always the most

rewarding. I beg you to not let your anxiety keep you in a prison. There is so much world out there that your anxiety is hiding from you. Not to sound super cheesy, but once you start to explore more you will learn that you can do anything. I just don’t want anyone else to find themselves regretting not doing something because their anxiety scared them off. It may not be easy, but it is so worth the risk.