Anxiety and Success

Today's blog is about one of the most prevalent "mood disorders" North American's deal with every day; anxiety. Almost 20% of North Americans over aged 18 are dealing with some type of "Anxiety Disorder" in any given year (US National Institute for Mental Health). That means this is an issue for at least a fifth of us out there and so I wanted to address it. That, and because one of those people is me.

In this blog I am often dishing out advice, suggestions and ideas to help you live your best life. However, I don't think it's fair or honest of me to do that without divulging that I also have issues that I deal with, and unfortunately, anxiety is one of them. The good news, is that I have also found coping skills that allow me to live a normal life and most of the time, I don't have to deal with it at all. However, every once in a while, especially during slow times when I'm not busy or times when significant changes are happening in my life, it rears it head and I'm forced to deal with it.

To anyone who has had feelings of anxiety, you know how debilitating it can be. I'm fortunate that I have never had to deal with the more severe symptoms that some do. Anxiety "disorder" (and I put that in quotation marks because I don't believe it is a disorder - I'll explain why later) can cause everything from a general feeling of uneasiness to heart palpitations, shortness of breath, headaches and paralyzing fear. The good news for any of you out there who may be reading this, or know someone who does, is that there is treatment, and it works.

The foremost treatment for anxiety disorder, as well as depression, is called CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). This form of treatment forces anxious people to challenge and face their fears and realize that no matter how anxious they may feel about them, nothing will actually happen to them. The more they experience this reality, the more the anxiety recedes.

Now, admittedly that is a very simplified explanation of CBT, but it gives you the idea. The reason that I'm posting this blog entry for everyone to read is that I think it has implications for success for all of us. CBT works by forcing us, no matter how much we might not like it, to face our fears. It makes us leave our comfort zone and realize that life continues outside of it. The application for everyone here is that this is the same thing we all need to do to succeed in life.

If you want to live and extraordinary life rather than an ordinary one, you will have to be willing to feel uncomfortable. The reason that extraordinary people are extraordinary is because they aren't like everyone else, and they become that way by doing things and behaving in ways that other people don't. It can be lonely at the top and if you aren't willing to feel a little uncomfortable; a little anxious, then you probably will never go as far as you could in life. CBT teaches us that beating an anxiety disorder, just like realizing significant success in life, means forcing yourself to do what you aren't necessarily comfortable doing. It also shows us that the more we push again that boundry of comfort, the bigger our comfort zone gets.

NOTE: I hope this entry helps everyone who reads it, especially those of you who might be dealing with an anxiety disorder of some kind. Also, if anxiety is something you deal with, I'd also like to recommend an amazing resource for you that has helped hundreds of thousands of people deal effectively with their anxiety, including me. It's called the Linden Method (just Google it to find the site). The resource is about $100 but it's well worth it (please note that I get no commission or bonus for referring this program to you. I just benefited from it myself and want to recommend it to anyone out there who might need it).