Do you ever go through a crippling few days of anxiety? One minute everything is fine and then suddenly you find yourself thinking the worst? You’re not alone. Lately I’ve realized just how much I have to lose and it’s made me anxious in ways I haven’t been for a long time. It seems ridiculous. I’m happy. I’m living my dream, yet I fear I’m going to lose it. I fear that someone will get hurt or that something big and terrible will happen. It’s a trick our mind plays on us. Oh, you’re happy? What if you weren’t?

It’s a stupid thought and we know it, but it’s there and it’s hard to ignore. I don’t think it’s possible to completely dismiss those thoughts. I think they’re intrusive and loud. It’s not easy to just pretend they don’t exist. So acknowledge them, look at them, understand what triggered it. Understand the root cause of that fear and how your mind got to where it was.

Then go on living exactly like you aren’t afraid.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to be safer if you’re afraid of something that could be easily prevented. I’m saying that you can’t let anxiety rule your life. You can’t let it call the shots. If you let it you’ll never be happy and you’ll never be able to move past the thought that there is more you could be doing. Sometimes we just have to acknowledge our thoughts and then put them in a filing cabinet. Store them away like a bill that’s already been paid.

A lot of things are out of our control, and even some of the things within our control are only able to be slightly steered. For the most part the chips will fall where they will and we should step back and let them. Life will unfold whether you’re scared of it or not, so we might as well push through our fears and at least pretend like we’re not afraid. After all, if we do that enough we’ll get to the point where we aren’t afraid any longer.

I’m not saying to simply fake it till you make it. I’m telling you to live in spite of the world being awful. To feel joy in spite of their being stuff to fear. I’m telling you to harness the good and don’t let the bad take control. After all, is that really who you want to be steering?