How to Deal with Anxiety

My heart raced.

I felt the sweat in my palms.

I walked with a combination of dread and obligation up the stairs.

I was making my way to a new school and was experiencing anxiety.

And I was the new teacher.

If you’ve ever felt anxious, which I’m sure you have, you know it felts extremely unpleasant.

I experienced my fair share when dealing with the workload and challenging classes I taught as a teacher.

There are many ways of managing anxiety, and as a mindfulness teacher and keen researcher, I’ve discovered a few principles that help.

Here’s what doesn’t work but what we all try to do:

1. Running away from your anxiety doesn’t work. Why? Because it simply chases after you, like a shadow.

2. Fighting your anxiety doesn’t work. Why? Because it’s like punching a solid wall. The harder you hit, the more it hurts.

3. Blocking your anxiety doesn’t work. Why? Because it’s like a soda bottle that’s you’re shaking up. Eventually, it bursts open.

So, what’s the solution!

The solution is the opposite of what you expect. To simply allow the anxiety to be there. Hear me out.

The anxiety is arising because you care about something.

You feel anxious when giving a talk because you care what people think.

You feel anxious about meeting a friend because you care what they think of you.

You feel anxious about your work meeting, because you care that it goes well.

So anxiety is weirldly a good thing. It shows you care about something!

Anxiety is not a disease. It’s a natural human feeling that we all have. Everyone. You. Me. Everybody experiences it. It feels like a disease when you do all you can to run, fight and hide from it.

To not experience anxiety is what’s not normal.

So once you realise anxiety is normal and it’s okay for you to experience it, and everyone feels it, you can stop spending your time and energy eliminating it.

Instead, use your time to learn to:

• make space for it

• allow it

• expand around it

• accept it

• be kind to it

• be curious about it

• open up to it

• make room for it

• breathe into it

• let it be

• welcome it in

This guided mindful exercise is just another way to make space for anxiety to be there. To be curious and open to it. Note - it’s not a clever way to get rid of it.

Next time, I’ll explain the important difference between acceptance and tolerance when it comes to dealing with emotions like anxiety.

I hope you find it helpful. If you do, keep listening to it and share it with your friends and family that are struggling with anxiety too.