Anxiety & Me: Learning to Trust Myself
For most of my life, I’ve seen my anxiety as something to fight. Something to “get rid of.” I thought it was proof that I was broken or that I couldn’t handle life like everyone else seemed to. It felt like this shadow following me everywhere, ready to remind me of all the ways things could go wrong.
But lately, I’ve been looking at it differently. I’m starting to understand that my anxiety isn’t here to destroy me… it’s here because my brain loves me. It’s my brain’s way of saying, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. The problem is, anxiety often shows up when I’m not trusting myself. It’s like my brain senses the gap and rushes in to fill it, overanalyzing every little thing just to make sure I’m “safe.”
When I’m anxious, it feels like I have this overprotective bodyguard living in my head. My brain is scanning for every possible threat. What if this happens, what if that goes wrong, what if I’m not ready? And while that constant alertness is exhausting, I can see now that it’s not coming from a bad place.
It’s just that my brain doesn’t always know the difference between real danger and imagined danger. A hard conversation, a new opportunity, an unanswered text, my brain reacts to them the same way. It’s trying to shield me from pain, rejection, embarrassment, or loss. It thinks it’s doing me a favor.
But here’s the thing: I’ve survived every single hard day I’ve ever had. I’ve figured things out I didn’t think I could. I’ve made it through moments that I was sure would break me. I am capable. I can handle uncertainty. I can navigate discomfort.
When I forget that, my brain panics. It jumps into overdrive because it doesn’t trust that I can take care of myself. But when I remember my own strength, when I stand in it, my anxiety doesn’t have to work so hard. My brain can take a breath and say, Okay, maybe you are safe.
So now, instead of trying to shut my anxiety up or push it away, I’m learning to work with it. I talk to my brain like it’s a friend who’s just being a little overdramatic: I know you’re trying to protect me. But I’ve got this. You can rest now.
The more I build that trust with myself, the quieter anxiety becomes. The more I prove to myself that I can handle what comes my way, the more my brain relaxes.
If you deal with anxiety, maybe this is something to think about: your brain isn’t the enemy. It’s actually on your side. Sometimes it just doesn’t always know when to step back. Sometimes the work isn’t about getting rid of anxiety. Sometimes the work is about showing yourself and your brain that you are capable, you are resourceful, and you can handle what’s in front of you.
Because when you truly trust yourself, anxiety doesn’t have to stand guard all night. It can finally rest with you.
