When I took on the project of learning how to quell, or at least more successfully manage, my anxiety—I did not know I was taking on a project! I was simply trying to survive, and stretching toward anything that might help. It was very “this moment” –not because I was hip and into mindfulness, but because suffering—perhaps THE gift of suffering—occurs RIGHT NOW and there is sparse sentience left to do more than cope.
Then I discovered that in my thrashing I’d found a few ways I could reduce, redirect and soothe my anxiety. I was able to get to sleep, give a talk, make it allll the way to the grocery store (400 yards) without a bag over my head. But there was no ‘Change-o Prest-o’ magical moment of awareness or insight, after which all my anxiety was gone. Oh no. This was the dawn of a long, arduous period of building emotional muscle: searching out ways to soothe myself, and then remembering and practicing them. In-the-moment desperation spurred me to pick up a pencil and pad of paper, or practice breathing, or …you get my drift. This is the process of building emotional muscle.
Anxiety Soothers is just a cute book filled with great ideas UNLESS you actively engage in it. Build the muscle! Write on the pages, create a book that bristles with stick-ems, chew on the end of your pen and be PROUD of yourself for every effort! I have yet to meet a supremely confident and anxious person, so don’t worry that you might become inflated or vain. What you might become is at peace with yourself, which will help you in every aspect of life. Emotional Muscularity is built with practice and over time. Effort is involved—and you are worth it! More on this later.
Then I discovered that in my thrashing I’d found a few ways I could reduce, redirect and soothe my anxiety. I was able to get to sleep, give a talk, make it allll the way to the grocery store (400 yards) without a bag over my head. But there was no ‘Change-o Prest-o’ magical moment of awareness or insight, after which all my anxiety was gone. Oh no. This was the dawn of a long, arduous period of building emotional muscle: searching out ways to soothe myself, and then remembering and practicing them. In-the-moment desperation spurred me to pick up a pencil and pad of paper, or practice breathing, or …you get my drift. This is the process of building emotional muscle.
Anxiety Soothers is just a cute book filled with great ideas UNLESS you actively engage in it. Build the muscle! Write on the pages, create a book that bristles with stick-ems, chew on the end of your pen and be PROUD of yourself for every effort! I have yet to meet a supremely confident and anxious person, so don’t worry that you might become inflated or vain. What you might become is at peace with yourself, which will help you in every aspect of life. Emotional Muscularity is built with practice and over time. Effort is involved—and you are worth it! More on this later.
