Authenticity is your Antidote to Anxiety

Authenticity is your Antidote to Anxiety

Anxiety holds us back in life, creates strong feelings of worry and negativity, lowers self-esteem, and does not let us discover our core potential. Anxiety like any other emotion has a deep connection to our early and current life experiences. Anxiety also stops us from expressing our views and suggestion to others – again this can be linked back to our experiences of being reprimanded as a child for expressing ourselves. Living in anxiety is painful and it takes us away from our core being. I prefer not to dive into the psychological definition and explanation of Anxiety. Instead, let me share my views on Anxiety based on my understanding and experience with this crazy emotion.

I have been an anxious personality since my school days. As a kid (until the age of 4-5), I may have been brave and confident but later in life I adopted to the needs of the environment and chose to go away from my true self. In the first grade, I got beaten by the teacher for not being able to speak a word of English. I was brave enough to admit that I did not know a word of English but that beating changed my views about being truthful. We all need to ask questions to seek clarifications in life. “Were you not paying attention in the class when this was being taught?” was the only response I would get every time I asked a question to seek clarification.

I stopped asking questions to clarify my doubts. I was fine being mediocre. Later in my professional life too, I would accept projects without understanding its objectives only to fail. Anxiety had put me into the loser category, and I was trying hard to prove to the world that I was worthless. I was tagged as indecisive and as someone who had no views. It would hurt me, but I never took steps to put myself back on track.

I blamed everything on my anxiety. I hated it for making me who I was not. I was afraid of failure and had an extreme fear of public speaking. As if my blood vessels carried anxiety instead of blood. To my friends, family, and colleagues I was this happy, shy, and soft-spoken guy because I chose not to show my anxious side. Yes, they would see me in my anxiety mode during presentations, family functions or any other events that would stress me out. Anxiety does ruin your life in a big way!

A severe panic attack in 2012 got me to seek professional help and with that I began my introspective journey. It took me 5-6 years to realize that I was the real-life VILLIAN and NOT ANXIETY. Anxiety in its own way was asking me to Be My True self! So, what if I could not speak a word of English? So, what if I took a while to understand and grasp a few concepts. I still must voice my opinions and disagree with things with which I did not agree. Understanding yourself is all that matters. Anxiety as an emotion helps us get closer to our real self and pushes us to take actions.

I started rebuilding myself and focussed on being who I was. So, was I able to overcome my anxiety? No, not at all! I am still an anxious being, but I can manage my anxiety and I am comfortable speaking in public, comfortable asking direct questions and comfortable giving my views. Being Authentic, allowed me to accept my shortcomings, allowed me to be vulnerable and gave me the strength to voice my opinions.

Here are 5 Strategies to Help You Embrace Authenticity and Manage Your Anxiety

1. Introspect – look at situations in life where you had to go away from your Core Nature.
2. Connect to Your Anxiety – understand what it is trying to tell you.
3. Let Go of the Need to Be Perfect – accept your weaknesses and leverage your strengths. Be fine with failing.
4. Stop Getting Attached to your Image – no one really cares about your Image so do not waste time on protecting it. Just Be Who You Are and Stop Trying to Fit in!
5. Explore Endless Possibilities – embracing authenticity and anxiety will enable you to live a life of endless possibilities.

Life will continue to surprise you with uncertainties irrespective of whether you embrace authenticity or not.  But embracing authenticity will permit you to move through life with purpose and passion.