A question I’ve asked myself recently is: When will I be able to stop worrying? When will I stop being afraid of the future?
A lot of these things affect my mental health deeply, and that in turn affects the decisions I’m able to make. I find myself afraid of failing, afraid of not reaching the point I’m aiming for and scared that everything I’ve built could fall apart. All of this has put me in a very difficult emotional state.
Of course, as human beings, we are emotional by nature. We’re deeply affected by what happens around us and especially by the thoughts inside our own heads. But when anxiety reaches what I would call an overdose, it becomes something that needs to be treated. It shouldn’t be seen as something normal that we just live with. In fact, I believe this kind of anxiety is one of the main reasons people don’t succeed or move forward in life.
When I took time to reflect, I realized that my anxiety comes from a few things. One of them is social anxiety and I’m afraid of rejection, afraid of not being accepted by society. I also struggle with obsessive thinking, especially overthinking the possible outcomes of my actions. I always worry about the worst case scenarios, whether I do something or even if I don’t.
I started looking into how to deal with this kind of anxiety and tension. I came across different treatments and medication, physical exercises, mental health techniques but to be honest, I wasn’t convinced by any of them. I realized that the real solution has to come from inside my own mind. It starts with being honest with myself: admitting that I do have a problem, and that I need to fix it. For example, when you’re anxious about starting a project, deep breathing or relaxation exercises won’t always help. You need something deeper.
The first thing I found truly helpful was staying away from negative people. I discovered that they’re about 90% of the problem. Some people put pressure on you, watching your every move, pushing you to reach a certain goal as if someone is watching you on a shooting range or monitoring you while driving. This pressure forces you to act in ways that don’t even reflect who you really are, just to prove something to others.
The second important thing is learning how to manage inner stress and practicing the art of coping. This includes time management and planning properly knowing what you have and what steps you’ll take next. Avoid being random or going to extremes. Instead, set small goals, even if they’re tiny. Reaching them will give you a sense of achievement and show you that you’re making progress. It also helps to stop comparing yourself to others and to stop looking back all the time.
