The opposite of anxiety isn’t calm. It’s trust in your capacity to handle what happens.
So true, don’t you think?!
It made me think of a frequent conversation I have with patients. There is an older self-help book, originally from the 90s, that is still relevant today – “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers.
I’ll give you the short version: underneath every single fear we have (every. single. one.), is the fear we can’t handle it.
But really, we do handle it.
Maybe not gracefully. Maybe not willingly. Maybe not calmly.
Maybe with resentment. Maybe with frustration. Maybe with tears.
But we handle it. And we’ll handle the next thing. And the next thing.
Building trust in yourself to handle things is powerful.
The next time you feel the anxiety creeping in, try a long exhale and say to yourself “I trust my capacity to handle it.”
Doesn’t that help at least a tiny bit?
If you need a little extra support with something stressful you are going through, schedule a Quick Relaxation Acupuncture Treatment.
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