How to Overcome Anxiety and Get Your Life Back. Within our culture, many individuals are being held captive by anxiety. Want tips on how to overcome anxiety so you can live your best life? #anxiety #livingvictoriouslywithanxiety #tipsforanxiety #anxietyresources #overcomer

How to Overcome Anxiety and Get Your Life Back

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Inside: Within our culture, many individuals are being held captive by anxiety. Want tips on how to overcome anxiety so you can live your best life?

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How to Overcome Anxiety and Get Your Life Back. Within our culture, many individuals are being held captive by anxiety. Want tips on how to overcome anxiety so you can live your best life? #anxiety #livingvictoriouslywithanxiety #tipsforanxiety #anxietyresources #overcomer

My dad gave me a flat, smooth stone with a little indent in it when I was a kid. I loved the silky, almost slippery feeling it had when I moved my fingers over it. It fit just right in my hand so I could carry it, and it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone.

What I didn’t like about it was the reason why I carried it or even the reason it was given to me. It was a worry stone. When worries came up, the rubbing of it with your fingers was supposed to take away the worries.

As a child, I was concerned about future events. What if this happened? Or what if that happened?

I would verbalize my worry, and then move on to the next thing. As a child, no one was concerned about my anxiety, although now,  it was a foreshadow of my adult life. I wish I would have learned tips on how to minimize my anxiety when I was a child.

How to Overcome Anxiety and Get Your Life Back. Within our culture, many individuals are being held captive by anxiety. Want tips on how to overcome anxiety so you can live your best life? #anxiety #livingvictoriouslywithanxiety #tipsforanxiety #anxietyresources #overcomer

The Problem with Anxiety

Worry and anxiety are very different. I thought if I’m going to spend this month talking about anxiety, the best place to begin would be to define what it is.

I pray you will stick with me because anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older- or 18% of the population. (Source: National Institute of Mental Health)

Even if you don’t personally deal with it, there is a high probability that someone within your fingertip reach does.

Many individuals within our culture are being held captive by anxiety.

Anxiety is an invisible chain which keeps you from experiencing the best of life.

Worry and anxiety are used interchangeably many times, but they are different.

Worry is usually short lasting, and resolution of a problem ends the worry. Example: I am worried about the test I took yesterday and the grade I’m going to get. Once the grade is received, the worry ends.

Anxiety is broader with mental images, verbal thoughts and affects the body. It tends to linger and can affect relationships, health, and jobs. Anxiety can sometimes cause depression.

Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far. ~Jodi Picoult

My first panic attack happened in 2011. It happened out of nowhere. Honestly, I thought I was having a heart attack. No one suggested a panic attack, so I continued to be afraid that something was seriously wrong with my body.

Dizziness became constant and felt light-headed when I walked. My palms would be soaking wet, and my legs would feel like Jello. Home is where I stayed,  away from everything I enjoyed because I couldn’t trust my body. Church didn’t feel safe.

I felt handicapped from the life I used to have.

Anxiety steals and consumes you.

You become a shell of a person because every ounce of energy is spent fighting your thoughts and body.

The Anxious Christian: Can God Use Your Anxiety for Good?Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic WorldGood News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You Don't Have to DoYou'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times

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34 Comments

  1. Excited for this months post as it will bless so many! Anxiety runs in my family. I’m very thrilled to share these posts these month. Thank you for linking up at Open Mic Monday, my beautiful friend.

  2. Thank you for your willingness to help those who deal with anxiety and to help us who do not understand it. Looking forward to reading more. Visiting today from Intentional Tuesday! God Bless

    1. Lisa- thank you for the encouragement! I appreciate it! I hope it’s helpful!
      Have a great week!
      Julie

  3. Julie, I’m so sorry about the fight against anxiety. BUT, I’m thankful you overcame with Jesus and are encouraging others with your own testimony and experience. I’ve not battled it myself, but certainly there are many who will grab ahold, understand, and will find encouragement here. Visiting via #testimonyTuesday.

  4. Becky- thank you! I dug my feet in real good regarding this and didn’t want to share, but I don’t want to have regrets. I couldn’t let another sister or brother be stuck here losing hope. I want to be that friend that comes along and encourages them.
    I’m hoping someone is touched through this!
    Julie

  5. You’re so right– worry and anxiety are such a common affliction… but I never thought of the difference between the two conditions before. My mom is a chronic worrier. Knowing how she is, I’ve always tried to not go down that path, but it’s hard when it’s the only path you were raised on. I’ve had what I would surmise was a mild anxiety attack last summer so I feel for you girl. Praying for the peace that surpasses understanding to envelope us all. Trusting and praying with you that your series this month sheds some much needed grace and light on these issues. Have a blessed night Julie! Happy to be neighbors with you today!

    1. Heather- I didn’t want to admit that it plagues me, but I wanted to shed light on it because it affects so many in our culture. I know when I struggled I couldn’t find a lot of Christian-based resources. Most of it made me feel shameful, because we aren’t supposed to worry.
      I’m glad you stopped by!
      Julie

  6. Patti- thank you for stopping by! Isn’t anxiety always right there ready to rear it’s ugly head?
    I hope this series can be helpful to you and your loved one!
    Julie

  7. This is definitely a needful article about an important topic.

    Thanks for the definition of the difference between worry and anxiety.

    My husband suffers from bipolar disorder; he’s also a worrier. Or at least that is how I’ve always thought. Maybe he is not a worrier but anxious? I’ll have to think on that one.

  8. This message is so much needed! There is no amount of anxiety we should settle for in our life, and I love that you are pointing readers to seek support from one another and ultimately God!

    1. Thanks Crystal! I can’t sit by and let others fall into hopelessness and complacency.
      I appreciate your words!
      Julie

  9. I am so glad you are writing about this topic, Julie. It is one that we need to be able to talk about without fear of judgment or shame or failure. John 10 talks about the thief that comes to steal as opposed to Christ who came to give life in abundance. I think of anxiety as a peace-stealing thief that takes what it should not by limiting our liberty to be who we were meant to be. I have had much anxiety in the past, and I have had a panic attack…so I know exactly what you are talking about. They are scary, it is hard and but through it all I held fast to the truth that God is always good. I can’t wait to see where you go with this. Praying for you!
    Blessings,
    Dawn

    1. Dawn- so glad you stopped and shared! Yes God is always good , but in those hard times we grasp at that truth. I know I became self- focused and it’s difficult to see beyond.
      Thank you for commenting!
      Julie

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  13. Thanks for this info! I know a few people who struggle with anxiety, so I’m excited to learn more about it! It can be hard to understand the physical affects when you don’t experience it yourself, but I’ve had the opportunity to pray with people as they’re experiencing attacks, and it’s shown me the seriousness of anxiety, but also the power of prayer!

  14. I love that quote from Jodi Picoult. I have always been a worrier, but I had my first real experience with anxiety a couple of years back. I look forward to checking out your resources.

  15. Anxiety can be so debilitating. It feels like it can control me if I’m not taking appropriate self-care measures. This is the topic of my next big project!

  16. Anxiety does still and consume. I have memories of my grandmother in a chair just completely overcome with anxiety and depression. I wish I could have helped her, but didn’t know then how.

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