Living and surviving are different. Of course, you are alive. Your heart is pumping, your blood is flowing, but are you living? Reading this right now is proof you are alive. Surviving is different. Surviving is being scared of what’s next. Surviving is trying to see tomorrow and be done with today. It’s what prevents you from experiencing and enjoying life. Living is a gift that can easily be turned into surviving because of many things. One of the most common factors that you are not living with is anxiety. Anxiety is a wall. It’s a barrier preventing you from truly living.
Anxiety is waking up already panicking about what the day has in store. Anxiety is the fear of the unknown. Comfort is found in the “known,” so as humans, we tend to fill in possibilities in our head to change the unknown into something we understand. Unfortunately, the possibilities we think about are not always the best for us. Anxiety is a thief. It steals our sense of security and our chance at experiencing things. I personally have had multiple experiences in which I have thought back and become mad at myself for falling into anxiety and not going somewhere or not saying something to someone. I also know how it feels to be told to just, “not think too much into it” or that I’m just, “working myself up.” Being told something like that isn’t very helpful. That’s because if we want to change our thinking, we must make those changes. It seems incredibly difficult at first, but it is not impossible. In fact, it’s very simple, you just have to get yourself out of your own head first, and that’s uncomfortable to do.
Change can also trigger anxiety. Change is difficult and scary. However, change can be good. It can be beautiful. We would not be who we are without change. Change is growth. Change is maturing. Anxiety wants to keep that from you. When anxiety is linked with change, it becomes repulsive. Who would want something that would make you anxious? But without it, we are stuck in a never-ending cycle of anxiety. It is possible to change the way you think, and it is possible to change the way you view things. Once this change is put to use, you can start to live. You can start to notice the small details and appreciate them. Getting out of a constant cycle and breaking out of the barrier you have put yourself in will help with anxiety.
You have the power to break the cycle. Don’t keep your mindset if it’s the thing that’s hurting you. When you look at your friends and wonder why they don’t just take your advice, it’s not something you can force them to do. It starts with them and their choices. Stop surviving and live. Start living your life with honest intentions. Live on purpose.
