Healing Anxiety and Depression Pt. 2: Just Do It

Hey readers! Boy, do I have a treat for you! :-)

I am so excited to finally post part two of my Healing Anxiety and Depression Naturally series! Part two is all about doing the shit that you might not necessarily want to do (aka, getting out of your comfort zone).

Anxiety can make us feel paralyzed-- literally paralyzed. It can prevent us from getting things done that we need to do, going places that we'd like to go, and ultimately causes us to become stagnant. It might seem insignificant, but organization and planning can increase a hell of a lot of motivation, as well as optimism for the future! It takes practice and willpower, but just like a muscle in the body, you can increase this mental strength in order to stop being paralyzed by fear. The secret? Just do it!

illustrations by Joel Benjamin
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This post is co-written by Stephen Jay Young, creator of City Hacker-- a website and blog geared towards people who wish to break out of their comfort zone when moving to and residing in a new city.

After graduating with his masters in marketing and moving away from his hometown in Philadelphia, Stephen explored all around the West, managing to experience living in five different cities in only four years. Through the process, he realized that moving to a new city is initially very exciting, and learned that after the novelty wears off, anxiety can kick in when situations arise that can cause you to deal with stress. In the description of his website, Stephen writes:

"Regardless of which number applies to your current disposition, as a city hacker, you realize that it is difficult to get out of your comfort zone, but you welcome the challenge. For you realize that it is through uncomfortable moments that we are able to grow as individuals, see ourselves as we truly are, and discover new ways in which we can have a positive impact on our surroundings."

You can check out his awesome website here for informative blogs, and interviews from other successful city hackers.

Okay, enough blabber-- here are Stephen's main tips on overcoming fear based avoidance in order to really start doing the things that you want to do.

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1) Figuring out what’s really important to me, and doing it every day. You’re a human being, and as such you’re mired by imperfection. Yes, you can be a multitasking productivity machine, but you’re not going to be able to do everything at an incredibly high level. Find the things that you love, engage in them with complete conviction, and do them as consistently as possible. You are going to feel uncomfortable, question yourself, make mistakes, and occasionally consider quitting – but as long as you have it in your head that, no matter what happens, you’re going to come back to that thing the next day and try your best, you will get what you want out of it. Avoiding your passions because of your fears is a surefire way to obtain an anxiety-filled life. Doing the opposite assures that, at the end of the day, you will know that you gave it your all, and you will be a much better person for having done it.   

2) Keeping my stuff clean and organized. Nothing makes life more chaotic for me than having my shit all over the place. It makes it difficult to focus, to be creative, or to feel at ease in my environment. Contrarily, having all of my stuff nice and neat makes it easier to organize my thoughts, plan out my day, make cool things, interact with people, and generally feel more at ease. The process of cleaning up can also be cathartic. Yes, it’s definitely work, but taking a couple of minutes to put away my clothes, or to do the dishes, typically propels me into a more productive mental state, and this momentum usually carries into the next activity that I’m doing.

3) If something is stressing me out, I write it down. Sometimes I can pinpoint what’s stressing me out, and sometimes it just feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I can’t figure out why. That’s when the negative thoughts pop into my head, which quickly turns into my mind going down rabbit holes that make me think I’m a failure, that people don’t like me, or that nothing is going to go as planned. Writing down what’s stressing me out forces me to look at the cold hard facts, and to create a systematic, logical way to deal with them. It also helps to keep me on track, and assures that I’m taking steps towards decreasing the stressful aspects of my life, making positive changes that will benefit my future, and being a happy, present, and aware human being. 

 4) Holding on to positive thoughts. Many times, when I’m going through the process mentioned in #2, it helps me to find a few positive thoughts and carry them with me. This helps to battle the negative thoughts that will intermittently pop into my head during the day. A good example of this would relate to running track and field. Occasionally I get some sort of injury that makes it hard to train or even sidelines me from the sport that I love, which can lead to a lot of anxiety. When this happens, I typically tell myself that all of the injuries I’ve had have gone away, and that even though what I’m currently experiencing may be painful and scary, it will go away with time. As long as I try my best, take the appropriate steps towards taking care of it, and stay positive, I’ll be back to where I was in no time. 

 5) Planning out my day. When I want to avoid stress, get stuff done and be as productive as possible, I’ll plan out my day by the hour, and write out a schedule that coincides with this. When writing this list, I usually think to myself “If I got at least ¾’s of this stuff done, today would be a really good day.” I try to do the most important items first, and then go from there. It also helps me to remember that my schedule is not going to go 100% according to plan. Remembering that, and allowing myself to be somewhat flexible, helps to keep my stress levels low, my productivity levels high, and my mental state even keeled. 

 6) Consistently doing things that I don’t want to do, but have things planned afterwards which I’m really excited about. If I want to get anywhere in life, I’ve got to do things that get me out of my comfort zone. A lot of the activities that I absolutely love to do stress me out and require work, but getting to the level that I want to be at requires that I do them when I’m not feeling motivated. You have to learn all of the rules before you break them, and nothing that comes easy feels as rewarding as those activities that require blood, sweat and occasional tears. That being said, giving myself a time limit for how long I am going to engage in a specific labor, and then telling myself that I’m going to do something fun afterwards, really helps to keep my anxiety levels low, and it also keeps me focused and driven to check that thing off of today’s to-do list.
 7) Just do it. This Nike slogan is honestly one of the best pieces of advices I’ve ever gleaned through an advertisement. Stop getting in your own way, and just go do the thing. Take that first step, do your best to maintain an unwavering positive momentum, and eventually you’ll be in that flow state where anxiety doesn’t exist. 

 8) Writing down what I accomplished within the last year, and planning out what I can do to assure that I’m building the life I want to live. I know that, if I make sure that I’m taking the necessary steps towards building the life that I want to live, I’ll be able to spend the majority of my time doing the things that I want to do and generally be stress free. Contrarily, if I don’t do this, I know that I’m going to spending a lot of my future time engaging in things that aren’t fulfilling and are anxiety inducing. Creating a list of all of the things that I’m proud of accomplishing within the past year allows me to feel good about my momentum. Thinking about where I want to be in the future, and writing down the things that I want to do to assure that I eventually get there, helps me to plan and consistently strive towards reaching those goals, as well as creating a happy, fulfilling life. 

 9) Being good to people. Relationships are the most important thing I have in my life. If I act like a dick, it won’t matter how successful, wealthy, or well connected I might be. Nobody is going to like me, and I won’t like myself. Being good to people assures that I’m staying on the right track, because I’ll be helping others feel happier along the way. This good-natured mentality consistently propels me to foster relationships, give back, and try my best to create an idealistic environment for myself as well as those around me, which in turn leads to less anxiety and more happiness. 

 10) Remembering that I’m only human. Life isn’t always going to go as planned, and that’s ok. It’s important to realize this, and to give myself a break every once in a while. I know that as long as I’m trying my best, doing the things that I love, getting out of my comfort zone, and being good to people, I am going to be a happy and fulfilled human with a good life.

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And if you've gotten this far, then you're a rockstar, and you just finished a mini novel.

But before I peace out, I'm going to leave you with a thought. Try to remember a specific time when you were afraid to do something that you now have no problem doing. What work did it take you to get to the point where you had little to no anxiety doing that thing? Was there a legitimate reason that you should have been afraid, or was your brain just imagining scenarios in which you were to fail?

I remember getting trained as a bike delivery driver for Jimmy John's and getting thrown out into onto the streets trying to navigate deliveries all day. This was a time when I was totally new to the city of Portland, and had no familiarity with any of the delivery area. I cried, got lost often, and even had a door slammed in my face at a corporate office because I ended up being late once after getting hopelessly lost (and nope, he didn't even tip). I thought about quitting everyday for awhile because I felt so inadequate.

After a few months of learning the routes around me, I began to fall in love with my job. Not only did I get to ride everyday and kindle my love for one of my biggest passions, but I learned about my favorite city in a completely different way by exploring being uncomfortable (even though most of the time it didn't feel like "exploring"). Without being thrown out into an unfamiliar setting, I wouldn't see Portland in the same way that I do now-- for that I am grateful.

Pain can bring incredible light into one's life. You just have to go through the crap sometimes in order to really grow. That's what this series is all about.

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:-) Stay tuned for part three of this series, where I touch on more physical components that affect anxiety, like diet, exercise, and even relationships.

Namastizzle, people!

Isabella