Managing Anxiety in a Chaotic World

Anxiety is often the result of feeling that you are not completely in control of your life. Your sense of personal agency is threatened. To regain some of that control, you can clarify your values, prioritize the things that are important to you and release the things that are not important. Get creative in thinking about how you might reclaim a greater sense of control. Examine situations in your life that are causing stress and consider how you might make some changes to bring them into better alignment with your purpose and goals.

Now you can make conscious choices about what you might want to change , whether that is reallocating how you spend your time, being more choosy about who you spend your time with, rearranging your physical environment, creating systems that help you keep track of your responsibilities, finding ways that honor your values, etc.

Changing your perspective and understanding more fully what is behind your need to control can also be helpful. Perhaps controlling things is how you keep yourself feeling safe and secure. In that case you might ask yourself "Do I really need to maintain that much control anymore?” “Is something in my current situation threatening my safety or security?” “Can I relax some of that hyper-vigilance a little bit?" “Can I release control of things that are not that important?” (Not everything has the same priority or importance.) If you focus on creating a fulfilling and purposeful life today you may be able to relax and expect that tomorrow is going to be just as fulfilling and satisfying. Therefore, there is little need to stress about your future because you are actively planning and living a life now that is in line with your values, dreams and goals. Right?

Live the life you dream of.