Anxiety

Anxiety

There are three facets of a personality around which the fabric of life drapes. Namely professional, emotional and physical. In our quest for self-mastery, we tend to work mostly on these parts. The true art of life is to balance them all while handling daily challenges that are sure to arise.  If any facet gets imbalanced, you and those surrounding you, will immediately notice it. In fact, the delicate balancing act among the three facets can also be evidenced in your environment.  Let’s understand what creates the imbalance in the first place. What are the primary reasons requiring a need for balance to match our desired growth?

If a random group of hard-working people are asked, ‘How many regularly feel the ‘fear’ of doing something new?’ one will find that such fear is relatively common. Let me put it another way, ‘When it was last time you did something for the first time?’ You might be surprised with the resulting paucity of affirmative responses. Remember, the question is not about what the group has been doing. Instead, the purpose behind asking these questions is to put the person and his or her feelings in an uncomfortable (but temporary) situation. In the end, it is the feelings of the unknown that cloud our thinking. But fortunately for us, uncertainty can also serve as the immediate trigger examining our emotions initially.

We often label these feelings as ‘Anxiety.’ And anxiety is a natural state of mind where a what we feel is what triggers fear in the first place. Some experts argue that it was fear during our human evolution that saved us from extinction at the hands of so many natural enemies.

So, one is left to ask: why anxiety in the present age is looked at as a negative experience?

No doubt, you have heard and read much about ‘stress’. Stress is what one feels when under inordinate pressure—whether physical or emotional, no matter the source. This is also the exactly the same stress you feel in a variety of situations—including when you don’t get what you need in your professional or personal live.  This resulting pressure is inevitably sparked whenever performance is continuously demanded over and above your available hours. It is the pressure that creates a work-life imbalance that seems to be so common in today’s society.

The bottom line is such a situation contributes to the failure to heal your body and mind. The same goes for ‘Anxiety in today’s context. You feel it when modern life inhibits healing our minds and bodies in a natural way due to the stress we experience on a day- to-day basis.

How can one address these feelings?  Is there any way to address fear, anxiety, and stress in a holistic manner? Or put in different words, how can I rid myself of this stress and overcome the accompanying anxiety?

This is often where coaching adds the most value—helping you to identify the early warning signs, and then teaching techniques to correctly identify and resolve the feeling we call anxiety.

So ‘anxiety’ is a product of significant imbalance in your professional, emotional and physical status. If, as I strongly believe, we are products of our own choices, then it your choice alone as to what thoughts and inclinations you follow. Afterall, choice empowers us to make decisions. And the decisions we make on a daily basis form the foundation of who we are and what we do. Remember, it was your choice to get up early in the morning and go out for a jog. Or, it could have been your choice to stay in bed for 30 more minutes. Your choice and is yours alone, and you benefit or are penalized according to how your thoughts guide your choices. Remember, it is well said that, it is the first choice you make in the morning that sets the stage for your entire day.  How you make these choices ultimately is a function of your mindset. If you have a good coach to help you focus on your life’s goals by fine-tuning your mindset correctly, it is highly likely that you will achieve those goals.

The proper balancing of your life is an act of self-justice (your mindset is the springboard for what you choose to do and not to do). Some might question how can you be certain that your choices and decisions are correct? My response is, I am not talking about right or wrong in these instances. Instead, a correct decision is a matter of position and circumstance. Here, the coach provides helpful guidance on what to choose, when to choose, and how to choose. Coaches are here to guide clients to choices that are balanced in nature and to help them further in their personal and individual goals to create a better life.

In conclusion, ‘anxiety’ is created by nature to help us stay alive. Anxiety can be your friend. A good coach will help you manage that anxiety to ensure the proper balance and make your life better in every sense.