Overcoming anxiety

After reading most of “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, I came up with a strategy to help me deal with difficult moments.    It’s a simple question:   “What’s the worst that could happen?”   After making a mental or written list (usually a mental list), then the next question is:  “Then what?”.

You have to be able to see yourself “losing” and resign yourself to the fact that it could happen.   Then figure out what you’d do in the event it did.    What’s the worst case scenario?   What would I do?

It empowers you, because in your mind, you’re working out a way to fix or survive something that you initially feel is insurmountable.

Another thing that helps me is writing.    It doesn’t help to vent, really, but writing in a way that’s constructive can be soothing.    Tonight, on the way home, I pulled over, parked my car, and wrote my boyfriend an email.     It was taking time out for myself, and for him, and that made me feel happy and productive.

After I was done, I drove on, feeling rather good about my day.