If you’re experiencing anxiety, you should know that there is probably nothing wrong with your brain. Sadly, many people are told that their anxiety is rooted in a brain problem.
Your brain is likely functioning fine. Most often the real source of anxiety stems from the way that you think. For example, imagine someone very anxious about an oncoming storm. Yet, there are many people who would feel a sense of excitement when seeing dark clouds (BTW: Last week here in Florida I came across those contrasting attitudes concerning hurricane Ian).
So how do we explain the difference between those who are excited about a storm and those who are frightened?
The answer is an important key to understanding why people experience anxiety. In each case the experience of anxiety or excitement over seeing the clouds stems from how a person thinks about them.
A frightened person may see the clouds and has the reflexive belief that the clouds spell his doom. Many others will see the clouds and anticipate having the exciting opportunity to experience the majesty of nature. Ironically, they’re both looking at the same clouds.
Each person has a fully functioning, healthy brain. Their brains are responding in a healthy manner to their respective beliefs. The belief of danger causes an activation of the body, resulting in the physical experience of anxiety. It causes the physical reaction regardless of whether the danger is real or not. This principle applies to the majority of stress/anxiety.
The stress on the job, the stress at home, or the stress in traffic.
The challenges are real, but how we think about them decides how stressed we become. That’s good news because it means that since your own thoughts are causing your anxiety, you can train your healthy brain to become significantly less anxious (This idea is foundational to Stoicism and Cognitive behavioral Theory, which are time-tested remedies for anxiety.)
To be fair, “change your thinking” is a simple concept but not an easy thing to do. There is a process to changing one’s thinking. Even though this process isn’t easy, most people who learn it are very glad they did.
The very best to you all.