Overcoming your anxiety

As human beings, we are all bound to experience anxiety at one point or the other. But while the normal person will shrug it off and carry on with his life, others will allow anxiety to put a full stop to their lives. Overcoming anxiety is necessary for those seeking to lead a more relaxed life.

Anxiety often concerns the factors of time and results. People often become anxious because they fear that they will not have enough time to complete all that they have planned or hoped for, or that the result will not be successful, perfect or acceptable to others.

“The most dangerous kind of anxiety is one that you develop based on what people will say or think about you. We may wonder at times why our mind thinks so much about a particular matter, creating anxiety, when in reality that matter is not so important to us. We forget that frequent and unnecessary anxiety can do a lot of damage than good,” Ms. Biodun Adam, a pharmacist.

For Ismail Aliyu, a post graduate student, “Anxiety manifests in many ways. A friend of mine who could not graduate from the university the same year with us went through a lot of difficulties because he couldn’t live with the idea of starting with us and then not finishing at the same time with us. But when he decided to take his destiny into his own hands, before you know it, he was through and even started working earlier than many of us. So it is how you handle anxiety that matters.”

Indeed, there are ways in which we can overcome anxiety in our lives. No doubt once in a while we naturally feel anxious but when it happens frequently there is need for caution to be taken. A sure anxiety killer is having self confidence in ourselves. “Confidence in our ability to deal with whatever life throws at us goes a long way in boosting our self confidence and at the same time curbing anxiety. In the first place why should we doubt that we can deal with we face in life? We have encountered so many tests in life and overcome them. So why should this particular one be different and causing so much panic in our lives? We have survived tougher times and we would continue if only we give ourselves the chance to.”

“But most times because some people have faced such situations and failed, we automatically draw the same fate for ourselves. This way anxiety starts to creep in. Why don’t we give it a try and hope for the best in every situation” says Abdullah Hassan, an officer at Asokoro Marriage School, Abuja.

Another way of eliminating anxiety is by focusing and living the moment of your life. Our fears, regrets, anxiety and worry seldom have to do with the present , but rather with the past and future. The past exists only to the degree that we carry it in our minds. The future is equally an illusion because we never can tell what will happen. We can only hope for the best. This is not to say that we should not plan ahead for the future but we should not dwell so much on it thereby forgetting that we have a present life to live. If we don’t live the present how well can we live the future. Focusing on what we are doing in the present moment releases us from anxiety and worry.

There is a better life for people with anxiety. Anxiety can be torturous and horrible emotional problem if not well thought out. Many people have been through the crippling and constant anxiety and they have come out healthier and happier on the other side with the right approach and thinking. You too can if you are a victim of constant anxiety. Don’t let anxiety rule your life.