Anybody out there want to be anxious? Probably not.
Anxiety is a very unpleasant feeling. Your heart may race. Your stomach may be in knots. You may have trouble sleeping and trouble concentrating.
Medical doctors see a lot of patients with anxiety. About 20% of patients seeing a primary care doctor actually have a diagnosable anxiety disorder! They may have many different symptoms, but anxiety is the underlying issue for many.
Untreated or longstanding anxiety is certainly not good for your health. It’s a marker of stress, and we all know what long-term stress can do.
But there IS something very positive about anxiety. And that comes in the process of change.
In interviewing individuals who had made a significant and lasting change, researchers found that fully 75% of them had felt significant anxiety in doing so. And those who were not willing to experience a significant degree of anxiety generally don’t change.
That just goes to show that change is hard! Our mind and body is programmed to do things the way we’ve always known. Doing something new makes us anxious. It takes a great deal of time and energy to make any real lifestyle change or relationship change.
SO, if you need to make a change, be prepared to feel anxious. Perhaps VERY anxious for a period of time.
That change may be:
- Stopping smoking
- Losing weight
- Learning a new job
- Getting a destructive friend out of your life
- Quitting an addiction
- Learning new ways of facing conflict with your spouse
- Getting away from an abusive relationship
If you’re feeling anxious, it’s possible you are doing something RIGHT!
Your turn: Have you tried to change something significant? Did you feel anxiety in doing so? How did you handle that anxiety? Leave a comment below.
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