31 days with our anxiety
reframing anxiety as an opportunity for growth
It was through a confluence of events over a couple of decades that I came to discover that my anxiety was not to be viewed from the vantage point of something being wrong with me, but something I could learn from and use to my advantage.
This new understanding of anxiety was the key to my freedom.
Though the journey to this discovery was long, there was an intense period of time in 2010 that I began to understand my anxiety as an opportunity for growth.
I started to put language to this idea, that in looking at our anxiety differently, we could grow from it.
In 2012 my first book, The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?, was published.
And it was in this book and in my blog writings prior to my book, that I began to reframe my anxiety.
“to change the way something is expressed or considered.” | Cambridge Dictionary
How you view and understand anxiety is due to a lot of factors, but is primarily shaped by the communities we live and interact with.
What is the meaning of anxiety in your community?
What is the meaning of anxiety among your family and friends?
If you can answer that question, you can begin to trace out the contours of how your understanding of anxiety has been shaped. And that understanding of anxiety will lead you in either helpful or hurtful directions.
There are many ways to reframe anxiety, and many metaphors and analogies and visuals that can help lead the way.
The one that I have been most fond of using over the years, especially when I give talks is that of anxiety and a vehicle dashboard.
A vehicle has a dashboard. And that dashboard is a system that informs the driver of what is going on within the vehicle. Is there enough fuel? Do the tires have air pressure? Are there any engine lights on? Etc.
And as we journey in that vehicle we pay attention to what comes across the dashboard. If we need to get gas, we stop and get gas. If we have a flat tire, we stop and fix it. If the car is overheating, we pull over, and maybe take it to a mechanic.
The dashboard informs us of what is going on with the vehicle and we either journey to our destination successfully when we pay attention to the information. Or we can ignore it at our own peril, maybe finding ourselves stranded on the side of the road.
Paying attention to the information is critical.
Anxiety is information within us that we need to pay attention to. It can be helpful in guiding our path. It can tell us to press forward, or to stop and freeze. It can tell us to avoid certain people, or lean into others. It’s helpful when we pay attention to it.
But if we ignore it. If we stuff it down below the surface. It can cause great harm.
For many people, having anxiety was seen as something wrong with them. A failure of self. And because of that they stopped paying attention to what anxiety was trying to teach them.
We want to be people who pay attention to our anxiety. This is the way forward.
We want to reframe it as an opportunity for growth.
If you were to pay attention to your anxiety right now, what might you be learning from it?
What is it telling you?
How could it be a helpful guide?
How could it help you grow?