I never imagined that a supernatural kind of anxiety healing would take place when I accepted God’s invitation to embrace the truth about His Son, Jesus Christ.  As a result of this leap of faith, God’s Spirit began to live inside me, providing an incredible spiritual resource that has reduced my anxiety and given me a God-inspired purpose. This purpose is to discover the greatest  potential for my life by getting to know the Creator of all life.

I’ve learned that discovering my potential is a process where the focus is on who I am becoming and the people I helping rather than on what I am accomplishing or the things I am accumulating. By trusting that God knows this process better than I do, there’s less pressure on me to figure everything out.

Not that many years ago, this kind of talk about God would have sounded like a foreign language to me. If you find yourself in the same boat, don’t abandon ship. Keep searching for the God who is a safe harbour and He will reveal Himself to you, that’s His promise. If you eventually find like I have that anxiety is a lighthouse that leads you to Him, you’ll be eternally grateful for it.

My faith helps me appreciate that anxiety can be a helpful guide when I learn to hear its message. I’ve set aside the unrealistic expectation that my life will ever be anxiety-free. Although I still have frustrating periods of anxiety, they are less severe and don’t unnerve me like they used to.

Today, I am secure in the knowledge that a perfect eternal home awaits me in heaven when my body wears out. This is an immeasurable comfort, especially when the inevitable storms of  life come crashing in.

If this post peaks your interest in God even the slightest, please click on the Spiritual tag or post a comment and I’ll get back with you.

“Life without God is like a unsharpened pencil – it has no point.”  -  Billy Graham

When my thoughts run wild, I often experience physical symptoms including stomach knots and heartburn.  These symptoms become another source of anxiety that can keep me awake for hours. Occasionally, the combination of out of control thoughts and unrelenting physical discomfort can cause panic.

Over the years, I’ve taken some pretty extreme measures to get to sleep. Some have been healthy and others not. None of the unhealthy ones have provided a positive, long-term payoff.

One of the healthy steps I’ve taken is to develop a better pre-sleep routine. Here are some elements of my flexible routine -

1. Exercise in the early evening.
2. Set a good room temperature; cool works best for me.
3. Reserve a comfortable bed for sleep and sex. However, I occasionally read something uplifting in bed before turning the light out.
4. Avoid excessive, late evening stimulation such as the TV or computer, phone calls, or intense talks with my wife. The exception is when I feel panic approaching, in which case, sharing with my wife really helps.
5. Journal (see separate post).
6. Eat a light snack to avoid waking up hungry.
7. Limit liquids leading up the bedtime and avoid alcohol.
8. Listen to peaceful music (sometimes I leave it on).
9. Meditate and pray.

I’ve also found help with sleep through the controlled use of anxiety and sleep medications. However, I only use sleep medication for short periods to help re-establish a healthy sleep cycle.

Sleep problems often occur when I push myself too hard during the day. I’ve gone as far as setting a timer at work for one hour intervals as a reminder to take short breaks. If I wait until I’m already overly wound before taking a break, it can take hours to gear down.

God designed people to sleep. It’s a normal, human function. A sleep problem is like an alarm. When it goes off, it’s trying to tell you something. Are you willing to work on becoming a more complete and healthier person? It’s the best path to better sleep.

Once I stopped playing team sports, I drifted in and out of the discipline of exercise. It took the direction of a doctor I respected to lose some weight to get me back on an exercise program.

I purchased a compact elliptical machine for less than $300 along with some hand weights and a workout mat, and set them up in the TV room. It took thirties days of willpower to exercise every day before I started to enjoy it. After that, I looked forward to it and lost about 20 lbs in a few months.

It also helps to exercise with other people, especially with an activity that’s fun. I love to play tennis but a knee problem recently put that on the shelf. However, my tennis buddy also likes to ride the local trail system so I’m going to get a mountain bike and join him.

I found the early evening to be the best time for me to exercise. For some reason, my energy level drops during the day if I exercise early in the morning before work . Experiment until you find your best time.

The best explanation of how to go about self talk that I’ve found is in the book “Overcoming Anxiety” by Reneau Z. Peurifoy. I read this book when I was in a deep anxiety hole and it was one of the tools that helped me out.

Self talk is what’s true for you and is tailored to help overcome your specific anxiety symptoms. Here’s my most recent self talk - 

• I am safe Lord Jesus, what can man do to me.
• My anxiety is not dangerous, it is just uncomfortable.
• I always get the sleep I need.
• The Holy Spirit will give me strength and peace.
• I trust you with tomorrow Father, help me enjoy today. 

When I’m able to, I’ll speak these phrases out loud to myself over and over. Otherwise, I’ll replay them in my thoughts.

This takes some time and effort but it works.

After all, doesn’t human nature lead us to share the gifts we receive in life, including our experiences?

If you struggle with anxiety, you are welcome to join my journey.

When the light that you’re plugged into is turned all the way to the high setting and gets stuck there, it feels like an electric current is running through your body continuously. It can cause hair to stand on its end, profuse blushing for no good reason, stomach knots that progress to heartburn, or the inability to sleep. These have been some of my worst anxiety symptoms.

About ten years ago, I learned that this feeling has a name, the “fight or flight response” (see post). Before that, I never really stopped to think that it might not be normal. Deep down, I believed that it was a weakness in me; something to be ashamed of and to keep quiet about.

Anxiety wasn’t that well understood when I was growing up and I was too embarrassed to seek help. Plus, I was preoccupied with presenting a normal appearance to the world while feeling PITLS every waking moment.

If you feel this way, please read the other posts on this blog or send me a comment.

Fortunately, my light control is mostly on dim these days and it’s changing my life for the better, allowing me to expand my horizons. There’s help available for you too.

I’m not an expert in all the bio-chemical reactions that go on when the FOFR kicks in; however, it has helped me to understand some of the basics like the fact that adrenaline is released. That’s good if the release occurs in a short burst in response to a real threat as the body is designed this way for our protection. It’s damaging, though, if the release is prolonged in response to a perceived threat that’s either not real or greatly magnified by our imagination.

The release of adrenaline causes some digestive functions to shut down temporarily. This occurs so the body can redirect energy to muscles that are needed during a real threat.  It’s not concerned about processing breakfast if it’s trying to save your life. Again, this serves a purpose except when it’s a prolonged and inappropriate response. This is one of the reasons why heartburn, ulcers, and other intestinal disorders can result from anxiety.

Although it may be necessary to get appropriate treatment for your digestive problems, my plea to you is to get help for the underlying anxiety that’s causing it. This requires courage and transparency with safe, qualified people, but it’s worth it, I promise you.

After five years together, we both embarked on a search for God and found Him through His only Son, Jesus Christ (see post). The more we read the Bible and other Christian books, the more our values began to find a solid foundation.

One weekend, on a local hotel retreat together, I was reading “Love for a Lifetime” by Dr. James Dobson in the open air atrium. I read that God wanted us to honor Him by ending our physical intimacy outside of marriage right away. Later that day, we made a commitment to do so.

By then, she was ready for a permanent relationship but I didn’t trust my emotions. Anxiety was like a fog that hid the depth of my love for her. It  became clear that we could no longer live together, so we separated painfully.

After a year of being single, I returned home from a date with another woman feeling empty. I knelt down by my bed and cried out to God to tell me what to do about the lady I had separated from. 

Then it happened, a surge of inexplicable joy. “I created her to be your wife. Age is no barrier to love”. The voice in my thoughts was as clear as if God was sitting on the bed talking to me. As the joy overcame me, I ran around the house screaming and hollering and my anxiety went out the window. I KNEW SHE WAS THE ONE!!!

I had to plead with her to meet me that weekend as she thought I just wanted to extend our friendship. When I told her I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, she was speechless. About an hour later at the grocery store, she began to shake uncontrollably. She didn’t accept my proposal until the following day.

I told her we’d have to get married soon as I was afraid of my anxiety if our engagement was prolonged. So we set a wedding date in one month, on Thanksgiving Day. About half way there, I began to have panic attacks.

One night, on the phone, I asked her to bear with me. Fortunately, she did and it helped me calm down. However, without the absolute conviction that I had heard God’s voice and He doesn’t make mistakes, I would never have made it to the wedding. Almost twenty years later, our love affair continues to blossom.