Spiritual life and Anxiety
I am someone who has experienced a lot of anxiety and I am still someone who struggles with it.
I write about the topic of anxiety through my personal lens. I am not an expert on anxiety.
I am someone who experiences anxiety and I want to grow closer to God.
I hope that this post will help others with anxiety grow closer to God.
Let’s give some background: I am the type of person who experiences things strongly. I am a “feeling” type of person.
As I was growing up, I often experienced negative emotions strongly. I would feel intense anger, intense sadness, and intense anxiety.
Anxiety was always something that never seemed to leave me. I would be worried, nervous, uneasy, and afraid. Often times I was not even sure what I was afraid of or what I was anxious about.
I couldn’t “shake off'“ the feeling of anxiety. It was too strong.
If you heard my testimony this is one of the reasons why I made so many bad choices. I was dealing with so much anxiety I had to find a way to minimize it.
The first thing I learned was that there is a connection between our emotional and mental health and our spiritual life. Our emotional health and mental health are connected with our spiritual life. We cannot neglect emotional and mental health and expect to have a healthy spiritual life.
The biggest step towards dealing with anxiety was discovering that there is a God and that God loves me.
Even with this discovery I still struggled with anxiety.
In seminary school, I saw professional psychologists who taught me how to balance faith, mental, and emotional health.
I learned that I had a lot of things to work on for my anxiety to get better.
I learned that it was important to stay grounded in my relationship with God, and to work on my mental and emotional health.
God wants all aspects of our lives to be healthy. Relationship with God is the foundation, but we have to do the personal work.
The foundational truth that helped me with anxiety: The most freeing thing was to learn that God was ultimately in control of my entire life. I don’t have to be afraid because God is in control. The more I grew in trust of God, the easier it became to deal with anxiety. I cannot convince you of this. It is up to you to work on your relationship with God. Let God show you how much He loves you and how much you can trust Him.
I still have moments when I struggle with anxiety. I don’t think it is something that will completely go away. Why? Because I am human. I simply carry the anxiety and I trust that God will take care of everything.
This is a checklist of things to ask yourself to help you with anxiety:
How is my spiritual life now? Am I doing all that I can to nurture my relationship with God? Is God in control of my life? Do I trust that God is good and that He has a plan for me?
God wants to be the center of our lives. God is stronger than our anxiety. To help with anxiety keep going to God. Keep up with going to mass, try going to confession, try reading the bible, keep praying.
Am I taking the necessary steps to work on my emotional health? Mental Health? Do I need to see a therapist? It is not bad to see a therapist. Sometimes we need professional help to work on personal stuff. It is preferable to find a therapist who shares the same faith.
Remember the connection between emotional health, mental health, and spiritual health. Stay grounded in God and work on yourself. Learn and read about anxiety, so you better know how to deal with it. Learn about how your past is affecting you and someone from your past could be the root of your anxiety.
Do I have support from other people? Family? Friends?
God did not make us to be alone. The lie that we tell ourselves is that we are the only ones with problems. Every human being has problems. We are in this together. Find support from others.
If you are sincerely working on your relationship with God, have done steps to work on your mental/emotional health, and sought professional advice if it is needed and you are still struggling with anxiety. Take a deep breath because you have done your best already. Trust that God is bigger than your anxiety.
Sometimes there is nothing else we can do but recognize that we are experiencing anxiety, trust that God has us, and let the anxiety come and go.
Try this simple prayer when you are anxious: “Jesus I surrender this anxiety to you help me to trust in you.”