lifelessons

“Everyone around seems to be anxious about the future these days. What can they do to beat the anxiety?” is a question I asked to one of my friends who is deep into spirituality. A question that led to a deep conversation.

A few things became clear in my mind:

Anxiety happens when we think about outcome without thinking about the process
A deep commitment to process of learning can help beat anxiety
Deep commitment to learning means we need to be ready to fail and disregard failures
When our commitment to the process is strong, it is easy to reframe failures as a step in the journey – a learning opportunity to iterate and do better next time.
When anxious, take some action – however tiny it may be. Action creates momentum where overthinking creates resistance. Take the minimally viable small action quickly to get past anxiety.
Finally cultivating faith in something larger than yourself helps. One of my mentors once expressed that while your focus in on your next immediate step, the Universe (or the Higher Power) has your path figured out. The belief that we will be taken care of, that what’s happening with us now is leading you to what’s best for you, to faithfully act and leave the rest for the Universe to figure out – that is the ultimate hack.

Cultivating faith isn’t about religion – it is about taking action with conviction, even when outcomes are not guaranteed. It is about doing your part really well (your circle of control) and then surrendering to the higher power.

There’s no formula to build this resilience when everything around us is constantly shifting. But once we cultivate faith and be stoic about our circle of action, we are anchored, much like a small boat experiences the ocean, but doesn’t get carried away by the waves because it is anchored to the shore.

(Image courtesy: Dangelie Perez, Pexels.com)

Our train to Chandigarh encountered heavy fog on that winter morning. At one point when visibility was less than 100 meters, I thought the train will not move forward. We had little choice but to stay put and trust that things will start moving. And it did, although quite slowly.

It was an interesting setting. When I got down of the train at a quaint station to click some pictures (and also stretch a leg after hours of non-stop journey), my mind went on a train of thoughts as it usually does during travel.

The train. Dense fog around. People moving here and there on the platform. The hazy trees at a distance. It all seemed very familiar. I felt as if I had seen this before. We all have probably seen it before.

A lot of our life is like this. If you can clearly see the path before you, you may be amongst the lucky few. For the rest of us, it is mostly difficult to see past the haze and uncertainty of the very next moment. But we move on, even if slowly, with a hope to get to clearer views. We trust something within ourselves and something beyond us and that keeps things moving. We persevere and keep the faith and suddenly, the vistas clear up offering magnificent views. The struggle through the fog makes it even more special.

The next time I am surrounded by fog in life, I will remember this – that the tracks are still in place, the green hazy trees at a distance will get clearer, hope will guide me there. That I need to trust the process.

That I need to just keep walking.

Written: Jan 16, 2016

A Few Things About Beating Anxiety

The Fog of Life