Jan 20 Tue
How can I fight anxiety?
Voices are telling us that we need something more than how God has created us to be for us to be okay. That is a lie. Our faith tells us that God had us in mind when He created us.
The anxiety that's caused by world relativism and the culture of ‘not enough’ alienates us. It doesn't allow us to live facing what we have in front of us, where God has placed us. Instead, it leads us to seek the next thing that will bring us happiness or joy.
Here are 10 ways to combat anxiety, according to Director Mike Iverson:
1. Begin right where you are
Don’t give in to the falsehood of the ‘if only’ mindset. Do not believe that one must jump through hoops to encounter God. He is always present. If you think that you have to change profession, or buy this thing to find God, you are wrong.
2. Love the one you're with
If you are longing for people who aren’t with you, you’re missing what God has given you in the moment. You may say, ‘I miss everybody. I miss my friends, I miss my parents.’ But by doing that, you're living in a past of regret and not in the blessed present of where God is calling you to work for his glory.
3. Be Grounded
Stop trying to always keep up with the latest trends. Cling to what is sufficient.
4. Realize that God is present here and now
See that God is working with you, and join him here, rather than keeping oneself distracted from his presence.
5. Reduce the voices in your head
There are three main voices in one’s head: God, one’s human internal monologue, and the enemy. Take some dedicated time every day to prayer and then reflect: Is this from God, or is this a suggestion of the enemy?
6. Live a simple life
In a world filled with numerous gadgets and life hacks, we often rely on the most basic levels of technological complexity to achieve our goals.
7. Reduce financial entanglements
If you don’t have to spend money on stuff, don’t. Do not owe more than you have.
8. Live a life of gratitude
Live a life of gratitude and practice poverty in spirit, recognizing that God is God and that we're creatures called to praise, love, and serve him. By placing our dependence on God as our happiness and practicing gratitude, we will be freer.
9. Slow down
Slow down, and reject the lie in society that the measure of your work output is the measure of your worth. You are a son of God; that is the measure of your worth.
10. Make more time for God
If you're disconnected from the source of happiness and the ultimate remedy for anxiety, which is a relationship with Christ and a relationship with the Trinity, you're going to be more anxious.
Your activity will be truly apostolic only insofar as you permit Christ to work in you, and through you, with his power, with his desire, with his love.