Written by Acharya Prashant
Especially in the modern world, unfortunately, a degree of constant anxiety has become an almost normalized state for us. A large portion of our mental health problems as a collective is very much about anxiety and fear. Burn-outs, career pressures, problems with self-esteem, fear of others, stress about studies etc. All of this is anxiety at its root and very commonplace.
It is actually a good sign if you see that anxiety rides your mind because then you can do something about it. Most of us do not even realize how tense and insecure we are within.
How to deal with anxiety? There is a part of anxiety that is related to facts and there is a component of anxiety that rests upon imagination. Purely imaginary will lose its sting, the moment you see it is merely imaginary. It is not anxiety that bothers you but your anxiety about anxiety. Let anxiety come and go. Why must you plan to react to it? You energize the anxiety by giving it undue importance. Why can’t you let anxiety be? You cannot have depth in your life until you have gone through the whole spectrum. You need to experience maddening anger, a razing force of lust and a terrible temptation to be dishonest. Go through all of this without suppressing it. You need to call anger as anger, lust as lust, shame as shame, and yet stand firm. You must be able to laugh at it even in the middle of it.
You are not designed to be perfect. All perfection is a fanciful imagination. Give yourself the license to be outrageous and the freedom to be unburdened. There is no obligation at all to be carrying the loads that you are accustomed to. You can be perfect even in the middle of imperfection and joyful even in the middle of anxiety. It’s not about waiting for some ideal sunrise. It’s about being there on this day.
Not just managing anxiety but really understanding it. Overthinking is a kind of imagination. Imagination takes you away from the fact of your life. Understanding is intelligence. Anxiety is a thought. The presence of the thought implies a lack of understanding. If I really understand what is going on, then from that understanding action will result in clear, direct, energetic action. When I am in the middle of the action, there is no anxiety, there is only the smooth flow of action. Right action is needed. Anxiety comes out of non-action. Immerse yourself in the right action. Then where is the time to get worried?
What fuels anxiety? There are two types of objectives: external and internal. External goals are inseparable from fear. You cannot strive for them without the fear of loss or failure. When the objective is not external stuff, it is then that you work very energetically without fear. Internal objectives come from a sense of completeness. Learn to distinguish what your objectives are. How do you want to spend your life?
How to beat anxiety? Listen to the fear. Maybe fear is to tell you that a lot of things about you are wrong and to tell you about your insecurities. Fear tells you where you are not real. It’s only fear that would drive a little humility into you. Fear is not an external object. Fear is your relationship with that object. It’s not the things that affect you, it’s what they do to you that terrifies you. The more vulnerable you take yourself to be, the more anything will be able to terrify you. Take care of your vulnerability.
(Acharya Prashant is a Vedanta teacher, author, and the founder of the PrashantAdvait Foundation)
