Heart Advice

How To Harness Your Imagination To Conquer Anxiety

''Anxiety can be the worst feeling you experience. It’s helplessness, despair, fear, and defeat combined into a volatile package. I struggled with it for many years—most of the time responding to it by running away. It was always in the back of my mind and kept me from really being vulnerable and present. Truthfully, it kept me from living.

But one day, when escape wasn’t an option, I had to confront my anxiety. So, I stood there and started to look more closely at my opponent. Where were the cracks in the façade that I could penetrate in order to triumph? What I saw when I examined anxiety up close was a series of what-if questions. It was a wall made of cracks.

I realized every anxiety attack I ever faced was caused when a swarm of "what-if" questions pushed forward my insecurities and unmet needs. Which meant it was an obstacle I could easily destroy. I just had to find the right answers.

All those questions (and lots more) would leak out of my brain and create that dreaded sense of unconquerable, crippling tension and fear. So, that day, when I had no other choice, I turned the tables. I felt the wave of hopelessness, and then I consciously engaged my imagination by asking helpful what-if questions...''