Anxiety is a Gift

I'm glad to see you back Friend!

I want to let you in on a little secret. I still suffer with anxiety. I use the word "suffer" loosely though because in reality I know have a little bit different of an opinion about what anxiety means in my life. I now know that anxiety is not there to cripple me and to make me scared. It is there to remind me about something that has happened that caused a not so nice emotion in the past. It's a reminder that something in the past didn't feel so great and our bodies and brains don't want to feel those emotions again. Our brains tell our bodies, "oh no, this doesn't seem like it's going to be good."

But with some training and some skills you can learn to stop the anxiety before it becomes too overwhelming and turns into a panic attack. I've learned that our bodies have an anxiety pattern and we can learn to stop it at the beginning and tell our brains that we are safe and that we don't need protection from those experiences that trigger it.

Currently I do not teach any classes on this specific thing, but I have a friend who does. She has a page that is called Anxiouslyengaged and if you are looking for someone to help you through your anxiety and to teach you about it go check her out.

One of the tools I learned from her was gratitude. Gratitude helped me shift my focus from almost constantly talking negatively to myself to learning to live in the moment and to see the good that is available to us in all the moments of life! Is gratitude the only tool I use, no, no it's not, but it is a tool that has helped me and thousands of others shift their focus from lacking to abundance. To see life through a different lens and to find the good instead of always wishing for the next best, greatest thing...

So why at the beginning of this post did I tell you that I still suffer? Because I truly don't think anxiety will ever really go away for me, and I'm not sure it really is supposed to go away. I know how to stop my body from going to the extreme but those feelings have a purpose, they are a protection and a guiding light in our lives. They help us to not go into situations that may be too much and that may feel too overwhelming. I used to be extremely scared of my anxiety, it used to feel so big that if I actually felt it, I might pop. I would run, hide, distract myself, anything I could do to push out those feelings. Now I know how to work through them, how to let myself feel more and how to embrace that while my emotions are crazy big they give me a perspective on life that many may not have.

If you suffer and it seems super overwhelming and crazy hard, I urge you to get some help. It's okay if you need some guidance to help you on your journey. Life is complicated, hard and messy sometimes but it can also teach us lessons that can lead us on a path we never expected. Sometimes those paths are so much more meaningful than we ever thought possible. I'm so grateful that I've been, and continue to be, on a journey that has led to doors I never thought possible.

With the holidays right around the corner remember that we have some amazing gratitude journals that we believe anyone could benefit from. Give the gift to others that would help them feel more joy, peace, love, and more hope!

Blessings,

Christy and the family

P.S. You can save 15% off our Christ-Centered Gratitude Journals through tomorrow with code NOV15.