For some reason, I used to think paradoxes were hard to understand, and that they were somehow confusing and complex. Hearing the word would make my brain freeze up.
I used to confuse a paradox with an oxymoron, until I learned one day that “jumbo shrimp” was an oxymoron. That one stuck.
Understanding The Paradox of Panic in Order to Overcome It Read More »
There has always been an undercurrent of anxiety running through my life. Even though I am a pretty laid back guy, I find it hard to sit still or just be. Over time, I’ve become used to my anxiety. Like a refrigerator that runs quietly in the background, sometimes it’s not until it starts making noises that you notice it.
Surfing was one such noise that reminded me of my anxiety. Here’s how it reared its ugly head and and how I kept it at bay…
The more that I learn about life, the more that it becomes clear that I know only a little. Even though I am relatively young in my late twenties, it seems that almost each and every day there becomes apparent in my life a new stumbling block, whether it is an anxiety stumbling block or something else. As a human, it is ingrained in my nature to find countless ways, both conscious and subconscious, to engage in self-defeating behavior. But fortunately, as a human I have also been blessed with the ability to find solutions to some of the stumbling blocks presented in my path. In regard to anxiety, at least a few have become apparent, some of which others may already have discovered.
1. Self blame
The first stumbling block that exists in every anxiety sufferer’s life is the tendency to blame him or her self for having the condition, as well as for all the shortcomings that result from the condition. The truth is that anxiety is always a natural reaction to some sort of difficulty that is too great for a person to handle early on in life. In particular, social anxiety sufferers tend to have developed their condition because of very critical parents, or children at school who constantly harass them. If one thinks about it logically, what is a child who does not have the experience to deal with that kind of stress going to do? Is he going to be exceedingly confident and slay his enemies one by one? Probably not – a more natural reaction is fear and cautiousness around people.
Five Pitfalls Anxiety Sufferers Fall into… and How to Get Past Them Read More »
Throughout much of our lives, instead of following our bliss, we’re busy trying to avoid being seen a certain way. Perhaps we’re designing our lives to make sure we aren’t perceived as selfish, arrogant, weak, incompetent or something else. Whatever way we don’t want others to see us, the compulsion to make sure others don’t think of us like that feels overwhelming. Our anxiety about being viewed the wrong way can be so intense that it’s almost as if we’d be hurt or destroyed if others ever learned the “awful truth” about us.
We don’t want people to hold these beliefs about us because, on some level, we’re convinced that those beliefs are true. We’d have no reason to fear someone calling us incompetent, for instance, if we didn’t have a deep-seated conviction that we actually are. Not only that—we believe, consciously or otherwise, that if people discovered our “dark secret,” no one would want anything to do with us. We’d be left completely alone and helpless.
How Your Darkest Secret Can Empower You Read More »
