It’s not every day you read that anxiety is a good thing. Now, of course there are gradations, like anything else, but it’s important to note that anxiety is…
- Normal
- Healthy
- The sign of a very strong brain
When anxiety arises, your brain thinks there’s trouble at the moment, and it’s instantly responding. It’s trying to make you stronger, faster and give you a quicker response.
The alert your brain is receiving is very powerful and its intent is to take care of you and keep you safe.
So, as you can see, anxiety can be a good thing. But like any good thing, too much of it can be a bad thing. This occurs when your brain becomes over-sensitive to threat — which can put you on high alert (when there’s no need to be on high alert). When the signals sent to your brain aren’t accurate.
And that’s when anxiety:
- Becomes intrusive
- Is hard to live with
- Causes disturbances in sleep
- Interrupts performance of normal functions
- Interferes with one’s ability to be present in everyday situations
As humans, we were always meant to have anxiety. But here’s the rub… we weren’t meant to have as many common forms of anxiety-inducing things in our lives, like:
Your smartphone!
With all of it alerts, triggers, notifications, input, demands and information — it’s complete overload on our system.
Which leads me to my MAIN tip if you’re experiencing anxiety:
Get off of social media.
I mean, frankly, if you hate feeling anxious on a regular basis, what purpose is social media serving for you in your life? And you might respond with,
“Well, Chalene, are you joking? You often tell us to spend more time in social media and to use it for business!”
That may be true, but how you use it is completely up to you.
I use social media every single day, but I’m very careful not to use it in the way that provokes unease. I’ve repeated this ad nauseam… there’s about 10 people, max, whose accounts I look at regularly. And they’re not stress-inducing people: my friends, family and a few randoms who I don’t know in real life but their content makes me feel calm, confident, happy and inspired.
If someone doesn’t make me feel those positive emotions — even if unintentional — I won’t follow them. Because it’s up to me to guard that side of myself. And if I’m constantly feeling on high alert or over-thinking, then I’m not taking care of me.
Therefore, any account you’re following that gives you even the slightest twinge of discomfort, you must unfollow. And again, the good news is anxiety is the sign of a very strong mind.
Hence, if a strong mind can provoke anxiety an equally strong mind has the power to calm the mind.
For much more on this topic, like:
- Differentiators between worry and anxiety
- How caffeine might play a role in your anxiety (with a personal anecdote concerning my daughter)
- My suggestions on guided meditation
- What are anti anxiety affirmations
- The power of exercise to combat anxiety
Then, check out The Chalene Show episode below:
And don’t forget to subscribe to TCS for weekly shows dedicated to your overall happiness, productivity and wellbeing.
