Anxiety’s Pace
How do you talk about a topic as broad as anxiety?
I’ve been thinking about that lately and was curious where I should start.
I decided to begin by doing some extensive research, seeking to better understand what anxiety IS and what it ISN’T.
And I want to be clear that as we get into and talk about anxiety’s pace, I’m speaking in the context of generalized, low-grade worry or fear of the future.
One definition that speaks to where we’re going today is, “imagining the future without Jesus in it.”
So, this isn’t to demean or discourage those who are struggling with medically diagnosed chemical imbalance causing perpetuating anxiety. If you’re struggling with that kind of anxiety, I hope and pray you are getting help, I hope and pray you are taking medicine to help you cope. I just want to make sure that disclaimer is made.
Understand also that I am not here talking about anxiety because it’s the trendy, go-to, fun-to-speak-about topic of our time. I’m talking about the pace of anxiety because we’ve ALL wrestled with some level of anxiety over the last year. Anxiety has a firm grip on our society at large. The statistics that I found have astounded me.
Consider this:
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.
Anxiety disorders affect 25.1%—think about that, 25%(!)—of children between 13 and 18 years old.
And these are just disorders—not counting the billions of cases of “low-grade” anxiety that so many of us feel.
Anxiety isn’t a problem, it’s a pandemic.
Anxiety is not a cultural, societal or generational-based issue—it’s a humanity issue.
Anxiety does not pick on class, ethnicity, cultural background, socioeconomic status, gender or age.
My guess is if you’ve read this far, it’s probably because YOU are wrestling with anxiety in some way.
And yet, for many of us, we have become accustomed or resigned to living with this kind of anxiety plaguing us. Somehow, we have normalized anxiety to being something you must tolerate. If you’re not stressed, if you’re not rushed, if you’re not busy, if you’re not constantly fueled by the anxiousness of the NEXT thing to do, you’re living life wrong.
Somehow, your life is a failure.
According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, only 36.9% of individuals suffering from anxiety receive treatment. Think about that. Of the 40 million people struggling with an anxiety disorder, barely a third have sought treatment.
These statistics back up the fact that we have grown accustomed to living this life with the strings of anxiety attached.
It begs the question: is there hope?
Are there strategies or practices for combating the ever-gnawing presence of anxiety?
Could it be that the life Jesus offers us of living a life of peace is too good to be true?
Can a peace that surpasses all understanding really be obtained by an apprentice of Jesus?
See, when we study the life of Jesus, we quickly recognize that He was the Master of engaging every room, every sphere and every situation he stepped into as a non-anxious presence.
What if I told you that the same could be true of us—as disciples of Jesus—today?
Could it be so?
The life of Jesus says a resounding YES. It’s possible. But it requires us to slow down long enough to study, mirror, and replicate the lifestyle of Jesus. This week, I challenge you to pick up your Bible and read—slowly—one of the four Gospel accounts on Jesus’ life. Notice the pace at which Jesus lived. Allow his presence to fill your body, slow you down, and gradually pull you back into a healthy, non-anxious pace of life.
This—I believe—must be the starting point to curing the low-grade anxiety plaguing our souls.
Try it, and see what happens.
Be encouraged!
