‘Anxiety – A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.’    Dictionary

Feelings of anxiety are unpleasant.

Anxiety and nervous worry…is debilitating!

I can, vividly, recall being asked to officiate at funerals for deceased members of the little church that I attended, so many years ago, and feeling an, overpowering nausea, for a period of two hours or more before the service.

I was so nervous that I was not up to the task…or that I would say the wrong thing…or that somehow I was inadequate!  However, once I began speaking, I felt calm and secure and determined to deliver a message, that with God’s assistance, would be a comfort to the family of the deceased and, credit, to their life!

I have always felt an, unease or anxiety, before public speaking.  Yet, upon, speaking to, many, audiences for over 40 years…I have received, many gracious compliments.

When I was 29 years old I became the assistant superintendent of Building Services at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  This position entailed the management of 150 full time staff and 200 part time staff and the 24/7 housekeeping of over 200 campus and off campus buildings.

I reported for work at 3:30 p:m:…and I was sick to my stomach each day…for at least two years!

Prior to my promotion to the assistant manager of a large academic/custodial organization…I had been a crew supervisor, as well as a foreman with several crews reporting to me.  I was comfortable with these levels of supervisory responsibility due to being able to, empirically, inspect the quality of the cleaning that our staff was performing…but the idea of being responsible for several hundred people and 200 hundred buildings…was a bit overwhelming!

I believe that many of us are, privately, consumed with feelings of anxiety and extreme worry…and fear of what awaits us around the, next, corner!

Now…as you know…most feelings of anxiety are baseless!

Most worry…is a specter in or our mind and a shadow, that lurks in our peripheral vision, that we can not see well…but feel it’s foreboding presence!

So many things that worry us are fog banks that seek to hide our abilities from us.

Our current political environment can make us ill…with anxiety!

Whether you are a Republican or Democrat…if the news make you anxious and effects your sleep or your general feeling of wellbeing….a good idea would be to consume less of it.

So much of what we see in the media, can cause you to feel left behind or not good enough…or as the Saturday Night Live character, Stuart Smalley, as portrayed by Al Franken…’I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, People like me.’

Happiness is not contained in…things!

Many of us require an automobile…but do we need a Mercedes Benz?

We require shelter and a comfortable home, is a blessing….but do we need the largest home in the neighborhood…or a summer cottage?

We don’t want to be hungry…but is gluttony the answer?

 

We want to be clothed…but do we need a $2,000 suit…is it not still made of cloth?

 

Real life is not depicted in our nightly commercials or our, rat race, to ‘keep up with the Jones family!’

We are cajoled into believing that there are enemies lurking around every corner and behind every bush.  The fear mongering of, self-serving, politicians has made us afraid of our neighbors and anyone who looks different from us…or who worships differently than we do…and assured us that only a few countries are worthy of us allowing, their refugees,  entry into the United States.

 

Now we sit in our houses with our doors securely locked and our alarm systems engaged…and when we see our neighbor suffering…we experience anxiety!

‘Worry never robs tomorrow of the sorrow, it only saps today of its joy’    A Healthy Place

‘Your mind is your prison when you focus on your fear.’    A Healthy Place

‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.’    II Timothy 1:7    KJV