Anxiety is a normal human feeling
All humans around the world get anxious for the same reasons
In this meme from Succession, Kendall Roy embodies what this short piece is all about.
Source: KendallRoyLookingSad on Instagram
He keeps thinking about the future while failing to act on the present.
Logan Roy, his father in the show, was an asshole as a human being, but he never envisioned or lived in the future. He always made quick decisions and lived in the present, which is probably why he was so successful.
Your anxiety probably stems from the fact that you are avoiding a task that you need to complete or envisioning a scenario far into the future that is out of your control.
You keep putting off the current task at hand and it remains on your to-do list.
Complete these tasks, and you'll notice how your anxiety gradually subsides.
How often have you felt a sense of relief from your overthinking by simply doing the work at hand?
Anxiety is our mind living in the future while avoiding the work required to be done in the present.
Anxiety is the act of "focusing on the future," but the truth is, the future never truly comes. Today you think of tomorrow, tomorrow you think of the day after, and so on.
Jim Carrey beautifully summarizes anxiety in this great reel:
"All discomfort is caused by thinking of the future.
Being present is the key to maintaining good energy.
Most of the energy people lose is because they are future-traveling in their brain.
I am nowhere but here.
Being in the moment frees you from the entanglements.”
Gentle reader, as you read this, notice how you feel.
Notice your breath as you read this—are you fidgeting with your hands, hair, or nails, or are you truly in the moment, simply reading?
If you aren’t then it is your anxiety subconsciously at play.
When someone tells you to take a deep breath—inhaling and exhaling—they're encouraging you to bring your senses back to the present by following your breath.
Your breath is always in the present.
I’ve observed this during my morning meditation sessions.
The first few minutes are just my mind, mindlessly clattering about future scenarios. It takes 5-10 minutes for my monkey mind to quiet down and bring my thoughts to the present, allowing me to follow my breath.
Try this and observe it in your meditation practice.
George Mack, in his brilliant newsletter, states, "You don’t have anxiety; you just have an anxious lifestyle."
He explains that if you input anxious stimuli into your system, you will produce anxious outputs.
The anxious inputs:
No time spent alone with your thoughts
Drinking alcohol
Having a poor diet
Having a terrible sleep cycle
In his piece, he mentions that there are two types of anxiety: Type 2 (lifestyle) anxiety and Type 1 (genetic) anxiety.
The modern world is a breeding ground for Type 2 anxiety, and we need better definitions to distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 anxiety.
For me, excess caffeine consumption often piques my anxiety throughout the day so I consciously temper my consumption.
I have personally reflected on what causes my anxiety and the tools I use to overcome it:
Workouts
Whenever I feel anxious before a tough workout, it's likely due to my fear of the challenge ahead. Most of the anxiety fades once I show up for the workout
Writing
I often feel a bit of anxiety before writing, but I've noticed that the only way to get rid of it is to sit my ass down. The words start flowing once I begin the work.
Social Media
Constant scrolling on social media can cause your brain to rapidly switch between various thoughts, which might explain your doom-scrolling-induced anxiety.
Blocking social media apps for a large part of the day helps me manage this.
Work
The only way I've found to beat work-related anxiety is straightforward: do the work. There is no magic pill. The longer I put off a task, the more anxious I become.
People often delay tasks they dislike for longer than it would take to actually do them. This is ironic and this is what causes anxiety.
I want to end this blog post with two quotes on anxiety:
"If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
—Lao Tzu
"Just like a low resting heart rate is the byproduct of intense exercise, low anxiety is the byproduct of intense self-examination."
—Naval Ravikant
Conclusion:
Your anxiety is probably stemming from the fact that your mind is living in the future or that you may not be taking care of your lifestyle which is making you a biologically anxious person.
Disclaimer: This post is not a discussion on clinical anxiety for those who are diagnosed and reading.
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