An anxiety warrior feels bent, but is never broken.
As I was taking a calming walk on the streets of Bali today I began looking at this journey I’m on from a whole other perspective. Over the years I’ve shared my best work around healing anxiety which includes the mindsets, the skills, the epiphanies, and I truly believe that I’ve done and am doing good work for the sake of every anxiety warrior out there. I celebrate with others when they’re sharing their progress with me, and intuitively guide the ones struggling as best I can.
A life’s mission that is incredibly exciting to get up for each and everyday!
But I began pondering a bigger question, how did this all come about? Was it sheer luck? Was it hard work? Was it some kind of infinite intelligence that I once prayed to that fulfilled my wishes? To this day it’s hard for me to pinpoint the answer because it’s truly un-answerable. I can have an opinion as to how I’ve gained the knowledge while simultaneously creating a tribe of anxiety sufferers ready to heal (on YouTube, Podcasts, and Facebook), but how much of that opinion is true?
Since our opinions are dictated by our emotional states in that moment, our values, beliefs, past decisions, memories etc I don’t think it’s possible to know how I actually tapped into my true purpose for this lifetime
What this has taught me is that we don’t need all the answers. Heck, we don’t need the majority of them! I used to look at myself as an idiot if I couldn’t find a solution to someones challenge or my own questions, until I didn’t. I started labeling myself as human, rather than pathetic, and that completely changed the path my life was on. The important answers we seek don’t necessarily show up when our minds are analytical and full, they show up when we least expect them to show up.
If you think all this Anxiety Guy content is due to my studying the arts of CBT, NLP, Hypnosis, Energy Psychology or other methods, you’re wrong
It’s kind of like planting a seed and having the faith that it will grow into something. My walk today taught me to be even more imperfect, more childish, and more unique, a true anxiety warrior. I felt more permission to flow with life ups and downs rather than fight for what my ego felt I should fight for. Now that’s a fight that will NEVER end, I don’t care how good you feel about yourself temporarily.
I realized that I’m not happy all the time, and that’s ok, because that’s real. It’s a part of a system within me that I have plenty of control over, but sometimes not so much. I realized that sometimes I get sad, and that’s ok, why else would god install this emotion within us? It must serve a purpose just like all our other emotions, and we must feel them all in order to grow and evolve, right?
Every anxiety warrior out there should hold up a white flag and surrender to themselves
Surrender to the thing you’re trying to alter and change at a frantic pace, with little luck. Bruce Lee said it beautifully when he said ‘have the courage to be disliked’ which is another sign of surrendering to the external, what freedom that level of life is, wow! The only limits we have are the ones we place on ourselves, and maybe you carry these beliefs within you now, such as:
- ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’
- ‘Life is short.’
- ‘Healing doesn’t show up over night!’
First of all you CAN teach an old ‘dog’ new tricks, life isn’t short if you live it the right way, and healing CAN show up over night but you’re not even giving yourself a chance because you’ve been saying this to yourself for years now. Open your mind up to something new about yourself and the world, you won’t regret it but you will face resistance I can assure you that, and that’s ok. Here’s a video on why the brain is rejecting your anxiety healing journey, it’s a vital listen.
Where do you go from here?
You take a step back, that’s for one. And you can begin by ridiculing those ridiculous beliefs you hold about yourself and why the world is so scary. Deep within you there’s a voice longing to be heard. A voice that wants to experience life in the present, rather than looking to a future goal before it can be happy again. We’re always waiting to live, waiting for the raise, the vacation, the person, the blah blah blah, and when it comes it lasts a few minutes before we find ourselves wanting again.
What misery, what guilt, what inner pain for every anxiety warrior out there.
Stop wanting, start experiencing. Experience the fulness of your 5 senses now, I mean when was the last time you asked yourself ‘what’s fun about this?’ I’m sure it’s been a while because you’ve been too consumed with the question of ‘what’s the potential disaster because of this?’ I’ve been there, I developed anxiety on auto-pilot, and I know what it’s like to create emotional distress without any effort. Realize that the opposite can also be true. Inner peace can replace anxiety once and for all, and the anxiety warrior doesn’t have to come out in spurts, but can last a life time. That’s what my walk taught me today. ❤️❤️❤️
Good Morning Dennis,
I kept reading this sentence over and over again, because it is one of the main fuels to my anxiety.
“Deep within you there’s a voice longing to be heard. A voice that wants to experience life in the present, rather than looking to a future goal before it can be happy again.”
My trainer told me to throw my scale away, because I have been number driven for a couple of years now. This at first caused extreme anxiety, because how was I supposed to know if I was gaining or losing, how am I going to know what I need to do at the gym if the scale went up? The worst effect it had was, I am not eating that day if the scale went up. Literally a pound or two would cause these actions.
It has only been a few days, while it has caused some anxiety, I also feel freed for the first time in a long time. I was focused too much on my future goal, and when I get to that goal then I will be happy, which I am learning is not the case. I need to learn to be happy with little successes each day, instead of chasing my future self. I have used the program, the youtube video’s to help get me through these last few days, and while it is still a work in progress, I feel that I have made a huge step in the right direction. So when I read this today, it was like a secret message that what I am doing is right for me.
Thank you for everything you do for us warriors!
Jenn Heflick
Jenn, being a part of your anxiety healing journey is a pleasure. Keep it up. ❤️
The thing that stuck out the most for me is “its ok to feel sad”. I actually woke up feeling sad today and of course, that made me worry. I have SO much going on in my life. When I read your post, I realized, its ok to feel this way and to stop fighting it.
Thank you Dennis 🙂
Thanks for sharing Donna, becoming a true anxiety warrior one day at a time.
Dennis you’re just amazing. To hear for the first time ever you discuss health anxiety changed my life. I had never heard the term and it applies to me 100%. I’ve now been able, with you as my guide, to address my anxiety by name, understand my sensations, learn to acknowledge and let go of those sensations and finally work towards reframing my thoughts and perceptions. I thank you for sharing yourself. I am a warrior.
Thanks for sharing Holly, would love to hear your anxiety healing progress, stay in touch.
I’m a lifetime warrior such as you and now in my 40s am just as passionate as you about discovering the plethora of healing tools out there and showing them all to others who are still trapped in that bewildering labyrinth. You are the epicentre in my eyes of the collection of the best info out there to date. You can’t even compare the level of helpfulness you provide compared to others since you too are a warrior. Just the way you describe anxiety in all it’s many manifestations is so lifesaving as you are bang on because you are a warrior; no therapist or doctor can provide this level of support. Love your work, I share it like crazy.
Grateful for your shares Jennifer, keep in touch I’m currently looking to interview more anxiety recoverers on their journey.
This is a beautiful and much appreciated post. “What’s fun about this?” stood out to me. Because of my anxiety, my life has gotten very small. My resources are so limited that help and improvement seems impossible. I don’t think I can do it alone, but I am alone. It’s all very exhausting. I’m not sure how to surrender to myself and what I’ve been fighting and move forward, but I can start by considering what’s fun about this. I appreciate all you do and thank you for sharing this.
Absolutely! When the dialogue within changes so do the emotional states of a person.
Dear Dennis, I am an avid follower and the lessons make me aware that I am NOT alone yet there are times more than I like to think, I am! I used marijuana Most of my life to handle anxiety and since quitting Dec. 2017 I have never felt so out of place and ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO SAY. I have a beautiful Family, a daughter,24, giving us a grandson in December and a wife of 30 years. I have a son who’ll be a senior in HS with Down Syndrome, both our kids are a Blessing to my wife and I!! This struggle has been the worst in my life, need I say this again. I’m probably a bit over medicated with NO results. I am seeing my Dr. this week to make some changes he said back in early 2018 that I was overthinking the situation. I’ve stuck to my guns about quitting, though this isn’t the first time giving it a shot, that is quitting marijuana. I am seeing a counselor who I like, about once a month. I am a prayerful person and ask God daily for HIS Help! I am patient but this new me plus Anxiety and ALWAYS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO SAY has been a tough for me, at times almost unbearable. Let me emphasize Dennis that I am THANKFUL, PATIENT AND DOING ALOT OF GOOD THINGS! DENNIS your help with my situation or your thoughts would be Greatly appreciated! Thank You!👍🙏
Repressed emotion caused by past experiences where a person felt helpless can lead to all sorts of inner struggles and complications. I would take a reverse approach, instead of changing it finding that true connection within, even dialoguing with the thing holding you back so that in time you can perceive it differently and emotionally shift.
Thank you Dennis, what suggestions do you have for finding the true connection within? Meditating? Any special reads you have in mind? More exercise? Your thoughts are beneficial to me! YOU ARE THE WARRIOR! and I want to be a stronger Warrior myself. Again Thanks Dennis
James, my suggestions would gear towards nature time, meditation, allowing fun to show up in your life, and visual imagery exercises that reframes the negative images that haunt a person daily (past or future situations). I would focus on 1 of these a day for 21 days, and watch what clarity shows up.
I just wanna share my experience in medical marijuana and it helps me deal with my health conditions. I’ve been suffering from chronic pain for how many years, but then when I learned that medical marijuana can help and cure sickness such mine like this article about marijuana kylekushman.com/topic/how-to-foliar-feed/and THC They are also new to me and I do not even smoke. If this is true I can not find any solid conclusive evidence that speaks to its efficacy.
Thanks so much for sharing Ava.
I have been telling myself for a few weeks now that I have to give up the needs to depend on friends that do not nourish myself. I depended on them as I do not want to feel alone. However, just over night recently, I lost the sense of dependency over them and now I am going towards the direction of finding myself and defining my life on my own.
Sounds like a spiritual awakening in the making Melinda, love it.
My family and I have been using the question that you pose, “What’s fun about this?”, quite often lately. It helps us to just be in the moment and connect. Great question. Thank you.
Effective tools towards healing anxiety yes, have fun. 🙂
This is beautiful! It’s one of the bigger truths out there! One of my friends/colleagues told me two days ago that she goes with the flow, she doesn’t overthink anything that she does. This hit me hard because I’m always overthinking everything! I always think about the worst, “I’m not going to allow my son to walk from school alone because what if he’s kidnapped” rather than “I’m glad he feels confident enough to walk by himself”. I need to start looking at the fun in things and surrendering. I have been trying to do that, surrender my fears, worries to God! I will look at the fun in all situations! Little by little! Thank you! 🙂
Sounds like you are on the right path Maryanne.
I keep reading over what you say about god giving all of our emotions in order for us to grow, and becoming more than anxiety. I feel like you are really speaking to me and I Thank you very much. I want to thank the FB warriors for there inspirational post you all have been very helpful to me
Much love Sis thank you for the comment.