Anxiety as a positive.....

I have always dreaded the feeling of anxiety. I hate the tension, the shallow breathing, the sweat beading on the tip of my nose, etc. That feeling crops up when I have to do things that push me out of my comfort zone. Anxiety makes me want to avoid certain situations.  

In any culture, we will meet with rejection and various biases: sexism, racism, gender bias, age-ism, etc. When we go out into the world or engage in different interactions, we often anticipate what we are up against, and we feel anxious. But creating a life that we want requires moving ahead in spite of .......

This week I've been reading Thomas Hora's Beyond the Dream (one of my favorite books in the world http://www.pagl.org/excerpts.html). This is what Dr. Hora writes about anxiety:

"[Anxiety] is actually just a heightened state of alertness, connected with an anxious desire to succeed in some project. Therefore it is actually healthy to be anxious. We can say, it is all right to be anxious as long as we are not timid. Timidity is a fear of appearing anxious, and it gives rise to a desire to stifle and cover up the anxiety. Anxiety can be accepted as something positive, and timidity can be refused as something cowardly, unproductive, and self-indulgent. Timid people often blame anxiety for their suffering, but if they realize that the [enemy] is timidity hiding behind anxiety, then they can simply refuse to be timid and the whole problem disappears. Therefore, we can say that it is all right to be anxious as long as we are willing not to be timid."

I love a choice! I now choose courage and productivity, and I release timidity.

That may be easier said than done, but I believe hard things are doable when we have the right mindset. Refuse to be timid because who else can represent you in this world?

TIMID: easily frightened; lacking self-confidence, shy