What To Do About Anxiety, Fear & Worry

What To Do About Anxiety, Fear & WorryMatthew 5:9  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”I think it is kind of interesting that this is the verse of the day today. I was searching for good scripture verses for anxiety. I woke up this morning to a Facebook message from a friend asking for prayers because her anxiety was really bad, and she couldn’t sleep. This, unfortunately, happens to more people than we know. While looking for a verse, my phone buzzed with the verse of the day. I think it is interesting because this was the verse for my small group at the retreat. We have a group chat with all of us in that group, and it is called the Peacemakers. So, when I saw the verse, I knew that was the one I was supposed to use. Then the Lord showed me that peace is exactly what those with anxiety need. Anxiety, worry, and fear are happening more and more these days. There are so many young people suffering from it, and yet it is affecting the older population as well. It seems no one is above the grasp of worry, anxiety, and fear. I imagine one thing that makes it so hard is that you don’t always know what you are anxious about. If you knew what it was, if it was a specific thing you were worried about, you could talk yourself out of it. You might be able to reason with yourself. However, when you have these feelings, but they aren’t about something specific, you aren’t sure what to tell yourself. In my book on Anxiety, I have a chapter on what to do at the moment when you are having an anxiety attack. I am not a counselor, so what I am sharing with you are things I have learned by researching anxiety as I have a lot of friends and family who suffer from it, and I have tried to help them over the years. If you are struggling with anxiety, you may want to talk to a counselor about it. I have talked to a counselor for years for various reasons, and I find them so helpful!I have heard when you are having anxiety, you should try to get back to the present moment. Anxiety is usually when we are thinking about the past or the future. However, in the present moment, there isn’t anything to worry about because it just is. Trying to get yourself back to the present moment when you are anxious can be just the trick you need.  However, how do you do that?  There are several different activities that you can quickly do when you are noticing that you are starting to worry.  Actually, even if you are in a full-blown panic attack, you may be able to do these activities to calm yourself down.  I will go over two of them 1.) The first and probably easiest to explain is to count numbers out of order or backward.  When you do this, you are shifting focus from one part of your brain to another, and it is harder to be anxious when you are using this other part of your brain.  Let's all practice this now.  Everyone counts down backwards from 10.  Awesome, nice job!  You can also count numbers out of order.  For instance, 3, 10, 15, 4, 8, 22, 17. Again, this forces your focus to start using another part of your brain.  2.) The next one is to enlist the help of your senses to pull you back into the present moment.  The Mayo Clinic calls it the 5-4-3-2-1 Countdown to make anxiety blasts off.  Here is how you would do it.  You take a moment and look around at your surroundings.  Now you would list: 5 things you can see: Your arm, a pen, your computer, the rug, the window.  4 things you can physically feel: Your face, the ground, your hair, your shoe3 things you can hear: The rain outside, a car passing by, your fridge buzzing2 things you can smell: your feet, a plant1  thing you can taste: your chapstick, your drink, gum. These will obviously be different for everyone.  It depends on the room you are in or the place where this occurs.  It depends on what you are doing and what your surroundings are.  However