You know, sometimes life just isn’t working.
Despite all the forward action, pre-prepping, and positive mindset shifts, you’re still dealing with all encompassing anxiety about that one issue.
- Maybe it’s your birth choices.
- Maybe it’s a parenting disagreement.
- Maybe it’s what to do about a diagnosis.
- Even something as mundane as a new eating plan.
Whatever the specifics of your life scenario, I know one thing for certain:
Sometime the heaviness just keeps coming back.
And back. And back.
And it seems like there’s nothing you can do about it.
What should you do in these situations?
I’ll tell you what helped me last year when I was worrying over my unborn daughter’s soon-to-be entrance and all the medical junk that went along with it.
Time to talk
Talk it out. Give yourself space to feel the emotions.
Express to yourself, God, or your partner what’s really bugging you about this situation or that person’s response.
When you’re dealing with recurrent anxiety, telling yourself to “just get over it” never works.
You need the friendly ear of another person, maybe your journal, or at least the Lord to get you through.
We’re humans; part of that means being social creatures.
We can’t just order ourselves to stop worrying over one particular problem.
To quit replaying that worst case scenario.
To press pause on all the what-ifs.
No, we need to talk out everything that’s on our hearts till at last we’re empty. Only then do we find that elusive peace.
Keep going till you get peace
It isn’t a magic process of “talk it out once and you’re good to go,” much as we’d like that to be true.
When you’re battling heaviness of this nature, you often have to “pray it through,” so to speak, again and again.
Keep talking, praying, and reviewing till you come to a place of peace. Sometimes this takes longer than others.
Talk out everything that’s on your heart till at last you’re empty.
And when you’re dealing with a diagnosis, repeated encounters with that problem person, or something still in the future (like an upcoming birth or adoption), you often defeat the giant once – and have to do battle all over again.
Because there’s always another doctor’s appointment, required meeting, or staff encounter to rock you off your hard-won center.
So what do we do?
We go back to the drawing board once again.
We journal. We pray. We talk to our partners.
And once more we settle into our centers, grateful for the renewed perspective.
Peace.
The unshakeable knowledge that this is all going to work out, somehow, some way.
Until we meet that nurse again, hear some more bad news, or forget what we just learned.
But that’s okay; we’re human. You’ll get through it, one meeting at a time.
- One more trip to the doctor’s office.
- One more day with that hateful coworker.
- One more time.
I can do this one more time, right?
Yes. You can.
Taking action never hurts
And finally, it never hurts to do something to get ahead of the curve.
Brainstorm a few concrete actions you can take (if this is a recurring scenario for you).
What helps when you’re in that headspace?
If you know you’re always riled up by that boss two steps up, can you plan a soothing playlist for your commute home? Close the office door post-meeting for 20 minutes to recoup your calm?
Same goes for that dreaded doctor’s visit, or the meeting with child welfare services officials. What will make you feel better, get a head start on that decompressing, maybe even move you along that venting-and-renewing process?
Let’s pick that.
Because there’s no reason to flail around trying to invent the wheel every time when it’s a repeating drama.
You can play defense by planning to use that playlist, bring up a meditation app, or stashing a journal in with those innumerable medical papers.
Why not?
Let it be part of your routine. Anticipate it. Look forward to it.
Little by little, it’s going to help you change your life. (At least around this one recurrent issue.)
So what do you think? Does any of this work for you?
It’s what got me through the last trimester leading up to my precious daughter.
And while I wouldn’t wish that on you, I would be honored if my experience could in some way help.
What concrete action can you take to relieve some of the heaviness that’s in your life right now?
