Anxiety hates action

The solution to the battle: Keep moving.

If anxiety and fear are friends, then anxiety and action are mortal enemies.

Anxiety hates action. It loves fear. It loves inaction. It loves tentativeness. It hates decisiveness.

As I was thinking about what to write ahead of a new week for us all, I landed on this because we’ve probably all faced it.

You’re anxious. So you start thinking. And thinking. And thinking. Suddenly, you’ve gone through every scenario. You feel paralyzed because you’ve just been thinking of the same daunting topic.

Anxiety hates action.

In a less serious case, this might mean writing the first paragraph of an essay or a report instead of obsessing over how to make it perfect. Just start it.

In more serious cases, this might mean intentionally getting off the couch and going for a run during a bout with anxiety and depression.

Don’t stay still as anxiety constricts you like a snake. Move. Pivot. Try something. Anything.

Some days, you’re going to feel anxious, powerless and unwilling to take action. This can be normal. If you’ve dealt with anxiety, you know what I’m referencing. But on these days, it’s important to be intentional about moving – physically or mentally.

Be mindful and tell yourself, “OK, I’m feeling X, Y or Z. That’s OK. It might be because of X or Y.” Then put that on a side table in your head and move forward.

That might mean exerting physical energy during a workout. Or maybe it means working on a task instead of ruminating on something.

I want to be careful here. I feel like the verbiage used for dealing with anxiety can sometimes be a bit harmful or misguided if not properly contextualized.

I’m not saying to fight anxiety. Don’t fight it – accept it. But I also wouldn’t ignore it. There’s a balance to this. You want to reach a point where you can acknowledge anxiety because you’re no longer fearful of it. You no longer worry that it’ll cause you to spiral.

You must respect it. It’s a worthy opponent. Ignore it, and it’ll eat you alive. But you can’t respect it too much that you deviate from yourself.

A sports example: Teams gameplan for an opponent’s weakness, but all teams are focused on maximizing their own strengths. They focus on playing their game. If they worry too much about the opponent, they’re playing right into their foe’s hands.

Such is the case with anxiety. When you see anxiety on the opposing bench, know that it can give you quite the battle. But within that, be focused on what you can do for yourself.

It might be a workout.

Or reading a book.

Or hanging out with family, friends or a significant other.

Or playing with your dog.

DO NOT ignore it, though. Take it from me: In 2021, I remember beginning to feel anxious butterflies in my stomach during September. I was on the road covering the Mets in Boston, and my stomach kept fluttering. It was really uncomfortable. I was super concerned.

Back then, I knew nothing about mindfulness or noting my thoughts and feelings. I thought that was Buddha stuff. (How dumb I was.) I had no clue about productive strategies to deal with anxiety. And beyond that, I had zero idea how to identify why I felt so anxious and why it had built up so heavily.

Fast forward to now, and I have my own strategies. For me, prayer and meditation are helpful. I also try to regularly practice gratitude because it keeps me grounded by helping me notice things I might otherwise overlook.

Another thing: Ask for help. Whether you reach out to me or someone else, ask for help. You’d be surprised how many people have dealt with anxiety, depression or some other mental health struggle. You’d never know it, but everyone has their own stories.

Don’t let anxiety ear you alive. Don’t stand still while it engulfs you. It’s a monster that doesn’t want you to remove its mask.

Anxiety wants you to sit on the couch and think about nothing else but how anxious you are at that moment. It would love for you to grab onto it and let it drag you around.

Don’t do that.

Keep moving.