Freedom from Anxiety
Freedom from Anxiety. Unfortunately, anxiety has become a very common symptom and causes many people great suffering. Since the pandemic of Covid, those using anti-anxiety medications has reportedly increased by 34%. It is something that can really steal our peace and become disabling.
Let’s look at it from a whole person perspective physically, emotionally, and physically. On a physical level, the overconsumption of caffeine can greatly contribute to anxiety and mimic the physical feeling of anxiety. It can cause our thoughts to race and spin and our hearts to flutter. The size of coffee drinks has grown and grown, and the same goes for energy drinks which today line the refrigerator cases in most convenient stores! Couple that with how sedentary our lives are and the fact that many of us don’t get the release of endorphins caused by physical exertion. Endorphins can help us feel good and physical exercise can help us feel calm. Add to all that, the overindulgence in carbs and sugar! Those can leave our bodies yo-yoing because of rising and crashing blood sugar levels. Physically, we can make it almost impossible to experience calm in our bodies.
What about our minds? When we rely on ourselves or others, we can certainly feel anxious. We fundamentally are not as wise and powerful as any of us wishes we were. Others can fail us and we quite often fail ourselves. Health for our minds comes from relying on the God of all creation who is goodness itself and is totally for us and will never leave us. He alone has the wisdom and power we need to live in peace no matter what may come because none of us knows or can control what will come!
When we exercise the muscle of choice, choosing to root and reroot ourselves in His Goodness, Wisdom, and Love, we are able to spiritually receive that gift of peace that surpasses what the world can give and what we could even imagine!
It’s not an either or in how to approach anxiety. We really don’t get to choose between doing the healthy option physically or emotionally or spiritually. Rather, we have to put all three together.
May the Lord give you peace!
Margaret
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