How to Fight Fear and Anxiety

You’ve heard that little voice in the back of your head. You know the one…that quiet, little voice that whispers all your fears, doubts, and insecurities.

If you’ve ever suffered from fear or anxiety, you are not alone. Anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million Americans each year and these are just the reported diagnoses. Most people entertain these whispers on a regular basis. It can be debilitating for many people. Fear and anxiety comes in all shapes and sizes, changing with seasons and age and ranging from financial worries to health concerns and illnesses.

Some degree of fear is healthy for all development, but what do we do when it takes over? Are we supposed to live in fear?

In his book, Embracing Fear, Thom Rutledge says,

“Fear is bold, but insists that you be timid. Take a chance and there will be hell to pay: fear will call on its dear friend, shame, to meet you on the other side of your risk taking, to tell you what you should not have done. Fear will trip you, tackle you, smother you, and do whatever it takes to cause you to hesitate, to stop you. In this way fear is fearless.”

A small amount of fear is normal and healthy, but too much can be overwhelming and cause one to get stuck or paralyzed. Parenting is a great example. A couple begins with the obstacles of conceiving to start a family. Then, they struggle with the fears that accompany a pregnancy and the preparation to bring a healthy child into the world. Once the child arrives, the worry shifts to keeping the child healthy, loved, and safe. When the child leaves home, the parent’s concern switches to worries about sending a child off to college and trusting them to start a stable life. The fear and anxiety of parenting can be exhausting and can even make you doubt your parenting capabilities.

I believe the instinct of humans is to run as a self-protection mechanism. Our “Fight or Flight” kicks in. It whispers, “You can’t do this. Get out of there as fast as you can.” If this happens to you, try not to be too hard on yourself. We all do it.

Think of fear as a giant brick wall that spans from floor to ceiling and is wide as it is high. You try digging under it, climbing over it, or going around it. However, the only way to truly move past the wall is to run straight through it. You must go forward and into the fear.

“It’s not wrong to feel fear. It is wrong to let fear have the last word in your life. The people who accomplish the most astounding things aren’t the people who feel the least fear. Often, they are the ones who deal with the most intense fear. But instead of letting that fear disable their dreams, they start increasing their capacity for faith. They act on the part of God’s direction they do understand. Then they leave the rest up to Him.”
-Steven Furtick, Sun Stand Still

Whenever those whispers tell you that you can’t make it, that is the moment you choose to conquer it. All it takes is a small amount of movement in the right direction to get some momentum. Cling on to that momentum and just keep going. You might just be surprised by what you find on the other side of the wall. It will make you realize you are stronger than you thought. When the going gets tough, you know you can manage through it, one baby step at a time.