| How do I get over my anxiety? | Learn to find the hope and power that live within uncertainty. |
We have reached peak anxiety, and finding hope in anxiety can be hard.
The World Health Organization recently put out a global wake-up call, announcing that anxiety increased by 25% in the first year of the pandemic. Anxiety amongst American children and adolescents increased 27% during the five years preceding the pandemic. In Canada today, anxiety disorders affect 1 in 4 people (more than any other mental illness).
It’s not just experts ringing alarm bells in press releases and formal studies: In 2022-2023, internet searches for anxiety reached an all-time high as we took to the web looking for information about this growing phenomenon.
If you are a social impact or nonprofit professional, there are a few things about anxiety’s global shadow, and how to find hope in it, that you may want to know for your work.
When you are anxious, you worry about things that could happen, and you stress about the possibility of hardship, pain, or loss. Anxiety is different from fear, which is focused on a real, specific, and immediate threat. Anxiety is also different from depression, which is a state of chronic sadness or despair.
Everyone feels anxious — but when you experience anxiety for no particular reason, for prolonged periods of time, or when it interferes with your life, then anxiety shifts from an unpleasant mood to a disorder requiring your attention. Knowing how to recognize the symptoms of anxiety can help you understand what you or your colleagues might be experiencing.
Statistically speaking, there is a very good chance that you or a close colleague have struggled with anxiety at some point.
Nonprofit work exposes us to ideas, people, and trends that fuel anxiety. It is incredibly difficult to contemplate climate change, confront racism, or care for a critically ill person without feeling the weight of the struggle. When you care about your impact, worrying about the future can become a habit.
Moreover, the groups of people most likely to be affected by anxiety are over-represented in the nonprofit sector: women, immigrants, LGBTQI+, Black, Indigenous, and racialized people.
Yes, anxiety — and interest in anxiety — is on the rise.
Yes, young people are experiencing anxiety at increasing rates.
But underneath all the stories about young people and increasing rates of anxiety, there is an undercurrent of judgement.
We tell these stories because we want to communicate that younger people are different. We want to communicate that this trend is a problem. Maybe we even want to suggest that there is a weakness or a flaw with people who are letting feelings of anxiousness interfere with their lives.
What if anxiety, as unpleasant as it is, isn’t a problem? What if it’s just different?
If you think about it, the absence of anxiety isn’t necessarily awesome, either.
There are plenty of people out there who aren’t inhibited by anxiety. Many of them — too many of them — run for office, take over social media, march into places they aren’t welcome, and generally take up space in our lives.
Arrogance and entitlement brought us some of history’s worst moments.
Do you really want to be someone who doesn’t stop to worry about the future or other people’s feelings from time to time? Looking at it that way, anxiety doesn’t seem so bad after all.
Anxiety can be a great teacher, a voice of wisdom at a key moment.
Is it possible that you are anxious because you genuinely care about others, and you worry about letting them down?
Or do you worry about making mistakes because you don’t want to create more problems for people who are already struggling?
What if you’re anxious because you know very-darned-well what kind of leader you don’t want to be? It’s uncomfortable to know you want to do things differently and have no role models or blueprint to guide you.
Instead of haunting you, maybe your anxiety is trying to call attention to the gifts you have to offer the world.
Anxiety relates to uncertainty. We wouldn’t feel anxiety if we wanted everything done the same way as always.
If we only wanted to travel roads well-travelled, repeat work already done, live our lives like a paint-by-numbers painting … well then we wouldn’t worry about the future. We’d know exactly what to do and how to do it.
We worry about the future when we don’t know what the future holds.
Unknown and uncertain don’t have to mean bad, it can be empowering and a source of hope.
If you don’t know what the future looks like, then maybe it’s better than the present. The mission you care about so deeply might succeed. The people you work so hard to support may get the care they deserve. The injustice that keeps you up at night could be resolved.
Anxiety doesn’t mean you aren’t fit to lead.
Anxiety doesn’t mean you don’t belong.
Anxiety doesn’t mean you are bad at your work.
Anxiety doesn’t mean you can’t make a difference.
Anxiety doesn’t mean you don’t have power.
Anxiety means there is uncertainty, and uncertainty means there is hope.
Hope means things could be better than they are now. It means you have power. You are worried because you care. That’s not such a bad thing.
Q: How do you describe someone who used to be anxious?
A: Past tense.
Q: How do I … get over my anxiety?
A: The Thought Record process is a simple, powerful tool for identifying, challenging, and letting go of anxious thoughts.
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