GSD with Anxiety

Powerfully Choosing to Welcome Anxiety

If you have tiny humans, you have likely seen the movie Inside Out 2 this summer, which playfully introduces additional emotions, such as anxiety for the main character, Riley, as she enters her teenage years.  To summarize, anxiety is frazzled, with lots of energy, always thinking ten steps ahead, striving for perfection, but wanting to ensure that all possible negative outcomes are outlined.  All in all, anxiety is just a lot.

This past weekend, I attended the TedxNashville flagship event where the theme was Undercurrent, answering questions such as Why are we the way we are?  And are we in control?  It was a well-attended, well-executed event that showcased over 12 speakers who are leaders in their fields.

I want to highlight the conversation around non-clinical anxiety that was presented by Dr. David H. Rosmarin, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, program director at McLean Hospital, founder of Center for Anxiety, and the author of Thriving with Anxiety: 9 Tools to Make Your Anxiety Work For You.

Throughout his presentation, he shared how anxiety is an emotion and how it can do good if harnessed and managed the right way.

1. Anxiety can build emotional resilience.  Now through our GSD Factor Life lens, we know that to be resilient means choosing to persevere, to dig deep, and to turn life’s negatives into positives.  Dr. Rosmarin touched on how anxiety can actually help humans face our fears and build that muscle of emotional resiliency.
2. Anxiety can strengthen relationships.  When in relationships, we know we need to show up as our true authentic self and do so unapologetically, transparently, and, most importantly, vulnerably.  It’s through this vulnerable state that we share and embrace our anxiety with others.
3. Anxiety can help you let go of control.  Remember anxiety in Inside Out 2 movie? She was highly organized not just around what to do now but also around what to do ten steps from now.  In my own book The GSD Factor, I talk about living life with open hands; it’s a sense of surrender that serves us. Even though we may plan things out, life doesn’t always go according to those plans, so how do we embrace the pivot and let go?  The emotional resiliency that anxiety provides allows us to let go and pivot a little more gracefully.

Dr. Rosmarin left us with four steps to help make anxiety work for us:

1. Identify
2. Share
3. Embrace
4. Let go!

These four steps are memorable and so relevant.  Just today I was able to equip my tiny human with these four steps before a test at school.  Additionally, I was able to share with a friend that is facing some uncertainty in the future.  Talking through each of these steps with them as it related to their very different types of anxieties allowed them to be present with this emotion and channel it to effectively take the next step forward.

Let’s make anxiety help us get shit done!

Learn more here: http://www.dhrosmarin.com/