Feeling Anxious? I Feel You

this practice will give peace the upper hand

We’re dealing with a surge of anxiety in our nation. The World Health Organization recently released information addressing mental health concerns during the coronavirus outbreak.[1] But the virus has not made Americans anxious. We were already there. In 2017, booksellers noticed a 25% sales increase from publications related to anxiety. The Medical News periodical said this, “[Anxiety] seems to be rampaging through society like a noncontagious cognitive plague, forming a low-level hum that hides in the corners of our collective minds.”[2] And this was before the global pandemic.

I can relate. I will never forget Dr. Looney (that was his name — for real) holding out his hands to represent a spectrum. He looked at me and said, “On scale from normal,” he moved his left had, “to as traumatic as it gets,” his glanced at his right, “your childhood experience lands riiiigtht about here.” I was shocked to see my life experience placed so far the right. “It’s not surprising, then, that you have chronic anxiety.” It turns out, I am not alone.

Anxiety in its initial phase is a helpful response to danger. Anxiety brings heightened awareness, initiates fight or flight, and provides the initial burst of energy that prompts action. Anxiety becomes a problem when a person lives in that state for a prolonged period of time. For many of us, that heightened state has become our norm.

Our practical response, then, is this: recognize anxiety’s place and leave it there.

Jesus, speaking of anxiety, said this “Do not be anxious.” Wow. Thanks for that. Try walking up to a blind man, and offering this: “Don’t be blind.” Not much of a choice there, is there Jesus? But Jesus was clear — living in a state of anxiety is not an option for followers of the Prince of Peace.

Significantly, in Jesus, the secret lies not in the instructions but in the One instructing. Jesus alone provides the command and the capacity to carry it out.

Anxiety has a place. It exists to warn us about danger, briefly, and then recede.

The reason so many of us feel that constant “low-level hum” is that we have neglected to respond to the presenting danger and the accompanying underlying fear. We are living with the monster in the room. In the case of our current cultural climate the presenting danger might be racial and societal unrest, a political ideology or figure, unemployment, the possibility of illness (or even death), hunger, failure, etc.

I spent decades with the monster in the room. The response that changed everything for me was to proactively look the presenting issue in the face and ask a series of questions.

First, “Is this danger real?” If the answer is “No,” we remind ourselves that there is nothing to fear and open the door to let anxiety out (this is surprisingly effective). If the answer is “Yes,” we are faced with a new decision tree.

If the danger is real, we then ask the question of God, “Am I meant to fight or to flee?”

The key to this question is found again in the Person to whom it is addressed.

God has promised to be our strength and shield in battle and our place of refuge should we need an escape. [3] The monster may be in the room — that cannot be avoided. The key is to introduce the monster to the greater Power who is also present. The monster, though not decreased in strength, will be less scary when you see it cowering in fear before the King.

For many of us, the danger in this season is real and we need tools for the fight. Two of the best antidotes for anxiety (and specifically anxiety related to trauma) are breathing[4] and gratitude. Harvard Medical School found that people who practiced mindfulness and gratitude regularly not only found reduced anxiety and greater happiness, they also saw reduced doctor visits.[5] Look to Jesus, breathe deep and begin a practice of gratitude.

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[1] https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/mental-health-considerations.pdf?sfvrsn=6d3578af_2

[2] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322877

[3] Psalm 28:7; Psalm 18:2

[4] https://www.fastcompany.com/90479841/these-6-simple-habits-can-help-calm-your-coronavirus-anxieties

[5] https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/in-praise-of-gratitude