“A psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components.”
There are so many aspects to this one simple word, yet this one simple word can cause so much trouble. So why do we let it bother us? Why do we let things get us so anxious? If I knew that answer, I wouldn’t be sitting here writing about it, but it’s this anxious feeling that has me writing this blog.
I got two separate emails tonight saying that I have an appointment with a client in the clinic this upcoming Tuesday. You know, those real clients that I spoke of, with those real problems. Yeah, that gives me exactly about 5 days to worry, I mean prepare for these sessions. This is exactly why I speak of anxiety.
It really is an amazing thing when we think about it. Look at all the areas it affects: somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. That’s basically our whole being, every aspect of what we are as a person is affected. It’s when it becomes part of our everyday nature that it is problematic which then can lead to another problem such as a disorder. The thing about anxiety is its nature. It’s not actually a real danger that we are afraid of. It is not fear. We cannot mistake it for fear because fear is something that is real.
I’m not saying here that just because anxiety is worry about something that may not be real, it very well could become real. My anxiety about counseling real clients could be all nerves, or it could really turn out to be something of concern if I forget how to counsel when I step into the room. That spells out real trouble for me and the client, and I’m surely not willing to even enter that scenario into my memory banks at the moment.
My anxiety is a higher level right now just thinking about what is to come, but am I going to let that ruin my weekend? If you would have come at me with that question about a year ago, the answer would have been most definitely yes. Since then, I have grown, I’ve grown so much that this anxiety is not going to get me down this weekend. This does not mean, though, that I will just throw that anxiety out the window. I’m human, just like we all are, and that means we have a healthy amount of stress in our lives. I will use this anxiety to prepare. I will look at my notes, I will go over questions and scenarios in my head, but I will not let it rule the weekend because that my friends, is unhealthy.
When we let anxiety get to us, it really doesn’t help. Usually (and I mean usually) when we worry about situations, they usually turn out better than we thought they would. I could get into locus of control here, but I will save it, lol. We can really look at worrying as a rocking chair. I forget who said this, but they said that worrying is like a rocking chair because it gives you something to do but you get no where. When we look at it from this standpoint, it makes so much sense. We often worry about things that we shouldn’t even worry about.
Sweating the small stuff, we all do it at one point or another in our lives, but is it worth it? I let myself get upset about some things sometimes and then after I wonder why because things could be so much worse for me. In my SPLED class this past week we learned about a woman with Cerebral Palsy. She went to college for 11 years, and she got her degree. At times it took her 17 hours to write a paper. And I thought 4 years was a lot. We take so much for granted it’s not even funny. I could not imagine working on one paper for 17 hours and that my college career was 11 years of my life. If I sweat the small stuff, I would become frustrated really easily, I wouldn’t get to go on with my life, and above all I wouldn’t get to appreciate all that I do have.
I’m not saying to not worry at all, because like they said in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy one time, if you’re scared it means you still have something to lose. A little bit of anxiety is healthy. Worrying about every little thing in life is not. We (including myself) should look at our blessings and really appreciate them because we are so blessed for what we have. Things that may be simple to us that are so big to others. I try to thank God everyday for everything that he has given me, because even though I may become anxious at times and have real fears, He is there for me always no matter what.
Even though it may be a constant struggle to try to remember to not sweat the small things or to count your blessings, just remember that you are not alone. We are not perfect, and we all have our moments. That’s what makes us who we are. So the next time you feel the anxiety coming on, let it come, and then let it pass, because there is so much more to life than spending all of your time worrying about something that may not even be a real fear.