Anxiety to Strength – Few ideas

In our professional and personal life, there are times when we may feel anxious. It could be about our future or the way we are managing the present or a lost opportunity. We may look around and wonder how everyone else seems to get along fine and even thrive. This comparison can make us feel insecure. Soon you get into a whirlpool of self-doubt and lose your confidence to handle the situation. Here are a few thought experiments to get out of this,

• Pay gratitude to your gifts: In your anxiety, you may forget the gifts you have. It may a strong and healthy body, a loving family or a strong community of friends.
• Time Travel (No time machine or V/R required 😀): When you open your iPhone or google photos, you may see an “On this day” picture. It may be from a get together with friends, or your child riding a bike without training wheels for the first time. If you reflect back 3 years from now, will you remember this anxious feeling and the event that triggered it? Mostly not.
• Seek the strength in you & others: As NMSubra recounts the leadership lessons, “People are multi-faced”. If you are in a team of project managers, and your project plan walkthrough resulted in lots of minor feedback and corrections. You will feel a little low. If the next walkthrough by your peer nails it, you will be awed by his/her attention to detail. If a comparison drives your anxiety, you may overestimate other strengths and miss your own. You may also lose sight of your unique “personal core competency” and bringing it to the role/situation. (You can find an excellent article on core competency & other gold nuggets here)

When we seek and uncover our strengths and similarly identify them in others, we can appreciate the uniqueness of each one. This can calm us down. It can also guide us to build on the strengths of each other.

Image Credit: https://isha.sadhguru.org/yoga/yoga-articles-spirituality/spirituality-make-special/