As I get started on this series, I want to take a moment to talk about what it isn’t and what it is.
What it Isn’t
It isn’t about having to do enough of the right stuff.
It isn’t about implying that if you have anxiety, you don’t have enough faith.
It isn’t about making anyone feel as though their anxiety is caused by anything they are/aren’t doing.
Those are some of the basics, and I think they need to be cleared up and removed before I delve into this, because, so often, the implication is that if only we would just do [insert some action], our anxiety would go away.
We all know someone who knows someone who prayed for healing from their anxiety/panic attacks [alcoholism, drug addiction etc] and *snap* just like that they were healed.
But I’m not one of those people. And I personally don’t know anyone who has been instantaneously healed from it (not that it couldn’t happen – I just don’t have any personal experience with it).
The people I know who have struggled with anxiety and panic attacks have had to work through a lot and face some difficult stuff just to get to a point where where they could start coping with and managing the anxiety.
What it Is
It is about finding what works for you.
It is about shining a light of comfort into the lives of those dealing with anxiety/panic attacks.
It is about ending the shame and the cycle of guilt that we place on ourselves for not being anxiety-free.
It is about learning to find peace, even if the anxiety and panic attacks never completely stop.
What’s Next
Now, this is just my own, unprofessional opinion, but I’m not sure that anyone is ever fully healed from anxiety, and I’m not even sure that anxiety, in and of itself, is necessarily bad.
For many, it becomes more about managing, than total elimination.
I am not completely healed from my own anxiety. I still have to bat away the thoughts that creep into my mind…
But there are ways that I have learned to manage mine. I know my triggers, and I have a plan of action for when I do start to feel the anxiety/panic worming its way into my brain.
Tomorrow I’ll share some of what works for me when panic creeps in. I’ve been asked about this a lot, and there is no one way to do it, but maybe, if we share our tips in comments tomorrow, something in them might help someone who needs it.
This is the 1st post in a 31 Day Series: 31 Days to Peace: Finding inner peace for anxiety and panic attacks. Start from the beginning here.
