Anxiety is normal. But, it becomes a problem when it interferes with who you are and what you have to do. We live in the Age of Anxiety: beyond what is normal for anyone.
These tips are not treatment. Just a few skills before you need the pills. If you need professional help, get it. But if you can put these in place, your life will improve. I do all that I can to keep these in place in my life. Daily. In this post, I look at why anxiety is normal, how it works in the brain, why it’s like a monkey, and how you can BEAT it.
Anxiety is normal
In generations gone by, anxiety was caused by snakes and saber-tooth tigers. (And maybe by the rent due on our renovated cave dwelling.) Real fears. But today’s life is packed with anxiety (in our minds) rather than fear (of things which can eat us). Our anxieties comes from deadlines, expectations, the fear of missing out, anxiety due to comparisons, of not being good enough, the fear of failure, of judgment, of being rejected by others, errand paralysis, choice anxiety, climate anxiety, and the gloom cloud of personal responsibility amidst a sea of meaninglessness. Most of these are augmented by social media, screen technology and the internet.
High levels of anxiety have become normal for all of us. “Normal” kids of the 1980s, studies show, were more anxious than kids taken to see a psychiatrist in the 1950s. Since the 1980s anxiety rates have only risen far more. It’s not you. It’s not your genetics. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the socio-economic progress we have made in the last 50 years.
How anxiety works in your brain
In the brain, the experience of anxiety and fear works to keep you alive. Your amygdala (almond shaped center in the middle of your brain) generates feelings of alarm and arousal, fear and anger. It doesn’t want you to be harmed (thank you). When aroused, it activates your Sympathetic Nervous System and a range of hormones to make your heart race, your breathing shallow, pump blood to your arms and leads, make you tremble and shake and pump fats and sugars into your system to give you added strength for a short burst. All so you can FIGHT or take FLIGHT whatever the threat is.
This is okay for a short while – it may even save your life – but there’s a payoff. Your immune system gets turned back big time, you can’t see the big picture of life, and you‘re an irritable freak for a while. If this happens long-term (and this is happening to most of us) you’re more susceptible to infections and cancers, your thinking becomes cloudy and short-term, you lose sight of life’s meaning and bigger picture, and you may become an irritable freak for longer periods of time. The chronic stress leads to chronic inflammation, fatigue and strange illnesses. That’s why your anxiety needs to be trained. It’s normal, but annoying. Like a monkey.
Anxiety is like a monkey
You can’t get rid of anxiety. It’s here to stay. It even makes like interesting and fun (think ‘exciting’). Also like a monkey. See Disney’s 1992 film Aladdin to experience this idea. In the film, Abu the monkey was the expression of Aladdin’s anxiety. He had to keep it under control as he entered into to Cave of Wonders, confront a giant tiger head that kills people, and get the lamp. He needed courage for this. He needed to keep his annoying anxiety monkey, Abu, quiet. You need to train yours.
How to BEAT anxiety
The best way to train your anxiety monkey is to keep yourself surrounded with close, loving people. That releases oxytocin in your brain to calm your amygdala, stimulate your immune system and clean out your brain to think clearly (this is scientific fact). But what else? You can BEAT anxiety by following the acronym BEAT: Breathe, Exercise, be Aware, and Take Time.
