On Anxiety: Identifying Schemas & Organizing Chaos
Whenever you are having uncontrollable bouts of anxiety, panic attacks, fits of obsessive-compulsive behavior, etc. Just remember this simple strategy that I use to overcome Howard Hughes levels of a crippling anxiety disorder. The first question is to ask yourself, "What is making me anxious?" Then ask yourself that again and again because at this point your brain will say anything that is tied to anxiety, for all you know, it could be that the sun is yellow and the sky is blue. The next question you need to ask yourself is, "Why does this make me anxious?" Which your brain will come up with endless pessimistic nearly fatalist scenarios in which nothing but the utmost extreme of horrors could happen. The next thing you need to do is laugh really hard at your own fear, laugh at the greatest dangers imaginable, just laugh before asking yourself the next question, "Is this really worth getting this upset over?" If the end result of your anxiety isn't the certain doom of yourself and others around you, you have nothing to worry about. The next schema I will be introducing is if your brain does tell you people will die, which is something that people with the most extreme anxiety disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder suffer from daily, which you need to remember is that they won't die because you're not some almighty deity in control of their destiny, that we all have thoughts that can be intrusive and because we thought of something doesn't make it so. I could daydream for days about climbing Everest but the only place that happened over those days was in imagination, a fantasy of mind. We all fantasize about one thing or another, sometimes are daydreams can be nightmarish which whether people admit to having bad daydreams that scare them or not, it happens to us all. The fact that you can't control or organize the chaos that is this world should bring you comfort for acts and events that are bad and even horrible in this world are not your fault. The ones at fault are the person or people responsible. The world can be a crazy place which can truly bring out the disorder and chaos in ourselves. As former OCD sufferer, I know this firsthand about myself to be true and the therapy I went through has made this disorder no longer present besides the occasional panic attack and anxiety. However, the best thing you can do is admit to being anxious, that you may be suffering from magical thinking, that you may be obsessive, you may be compelled to do things, and all those things are normal for it's all apart of the normal human experience, not every human beings suffering is the same suffering you are feeling but that's okay because everyone is also unique in their own way, some more than others. Do you want to know a famous person who suffers from an Anxiety Disorder? Leonardo Dicaprio. Leo suffered from OCD, his worst bout of the disorder was while filming, 'Titanic.' Do you think there's something wrong with Leo? No? Then why is there something wrong with you? Don't let anxiety control you, you control anxiety, there is no need to worry or panic just cross that bridge when you get there. Embrace anxiety for all it's worth then let it go.
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