What Is Anxiety And How To Overcome It

What Is Anxiety And How To Overcome It You often hear people say that anxiety is bad for you and that you should do whatever it takes to avoid it or even fight against it, as if it is some kind of force that is fighting against you-an enemy-and that if you do not destroy the enemy, the enemy is bound to destroy you. However, that is not the case. Anxiety is there for a good reason-it is a friend-and by understanding the essence of anxiety you will be able to use anxiety for your personal benefit. Although it has been scientifically demonstrated that high levels of anxiety can have detrimental effects to a person's psychosomatic health (depending on its intensity as well as duration), that alone does not mean that anxiety is bad. To call anxiety bad means not to understand what anxiety really is. Just as most people think that high fever is bad, which in reality is the painful but necessary process that is taking place in the body so that the body can recover to health, in much the same way people think anxiety bad, when in fact anxiety is the painful process through which the psyche has to pass in order to finally overcome what blocks its way to achieving a state of calmness, relaxation and peace. Anxiety, just as all other so-called negative emotions and feelings, is there for a reason: to show you that there is a problem that you, at some point of your life, need to face in order to overcome it so as to move on to lead a happier and more peaceful life. Anxiety arises from the hidden desire to achieve something, but in order to achieve it you will have to pass through a considerable amount of difficulties, and that in turn may cause a fear within you to arise-fear about whether you will finally succeed in achieving it or not. Hence the bigger the longing to achieve a desired goal, the bigger the fear that arises within you and therefore the bigger the anxiety you feel. To offer you a simple and quick example, if you deeply desire to pass some kind of exam for whatever reason, and you know that you need to strive hard by studying for days or weeks in order to succeed in passing it, then you might fear failing the exam and this fear will cause in you the feeling of anxiety. But if anxiety was not there in the first place, would you be motivated to try harder and harder to achieve your goal? The answer is you would not. Therefore we need to understand that anxiety is there to remind you that you need to try your best to achieve your desired goal, and find ways to do so. Anxiety is simply a pointer: it points out to the fact that there is a problem and that you need to resolve it. Trying to avoid your anxiety by not facing your problems will not help you get rid of your anxiety, since no one can overcome problems by avoiding them. You will overcome your problems only when you face them and understand them; and once you understand then, you will immediately transcend your anxiety, and move from the painful state that it was putting you in into the deep state of inner peace, calmness and relaxation. So the intelligent human being, instead of looking at anxiety as something blocking its way, will use it as a stepping stone to reach quicker to its destination.