How to Use Anxiety as a Strength (And Why it Can Worsen if Not “Treated”)

November 15, 2022 Riley Caldwell

Index:

First of all - let me be clear.

In this article, we’re going to explore the antithesis to common anxiety advice.

Meaning, I’m NOT going to tell you how to “fix” your anxious feelings or chronic stress so you can feel like a “normal” person…

I’m going to tell you how you can channel your anxiety into drive. Into passion. Into power.

Here’s an article by Healthline, a mainstream wellness platform.

A lady who was previously diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder speaks about her experiences.

Here are two lines from the article:

“That’s not normal,” my psychiatrist said when I told him these things. “It’s excessive. We need to treat you for that.”
“With treatment, people with GAD can live full, normal lives free of the small terrors that plagued our everyday lives.”

Although she says she’s now a “worry-level-normal person”, she’s clarified her goal.

She wanted to become a “normal” person, an idea that was REINFORCED by her psychiatrist. Fixing mental health issues has been normalised.

I am of the belief that this is ineffective, which I’ll get to soon.

Don’t get me wrong, the lady is doing okay. She says “I manage it [anxiety]”.

But let me propose a hypothesis…

If people started treating stress and anxiety as something to strengthen us, rather than be cured, would they become better able to handle those feelings?

I believe so, and the evidence agrees.

I won’t linger on this hypothesis, but I need to make a point.

A point that encourages you to accept the possibility that your stress, anxiety or depression can become a source.

A source for an unstoppable mental fortitude, a zen-like sense of calm and unmatched levels of mental awareness and discipline.

If you’re reading this - you unconsciously know of this possibility. And you want it.

Before we move on to my 3 main points to using anxiety as a strength…

Let me give you a 3-step run-down of how I was personally able to turn my incessant anxiety and obsessive thoughts into a burning desire for change.

Change that I vigorously strive for through hours of daily work on my media content, business research and blog research.

#1 I had an epiphany.

As human beings, we are conditioned from birth to be who we are today. Our beliefs. Values. Everything.

I acknowledged the POSSIBILITY that I could condition myself to be the person that I wanted to be.

I had no idea if I could do this. But let me tell you - it is possible.

#2 I DEDICATED to learning.

Every single morning and night, I took notes on articles, Youtube videos and books (I actually started reading a little. Weird, right?).

I learnt about human psychology, about optimising one’s diet for energy, about muscle gain, about how to ensure the best sleep and about how to start attaining money.

#3 I committed to EVERY perceivable method of self-reflection that existed.

Meaning, I learnt everything I could about mind-muscle connection in the gym, about getting mindfully attuned to my body (I’ll get into that in a later post) and began to ask myself questions.

Questions like what do I want? Why do I want that? Is what I’m doing now going to get me there? (no, at that time) What are my values? What kind of man would have what I want?

These questions can be found in an exclusive resource I made. If you’re interested - download it here.

Now, down to business baby…

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How to use anxiety as a strength

Does it have any benefits? Here’s my take.

I think that trying to become a “normal” functioning human being in the face of anxiety and chronic stress is a foolish mistake.

However, this approach is normalised by health professionals, so why would this be foolish?

Here’s why:

A study conducted by Health Psychol in the US back in 1998 (this doesn’t make it any less relevant to today or to Australians) revealed that people with high stress who BELIEVED that their stress was dangerous to their health, had a 43% higher chance of dying over an 8-year period than people who experienced minimal stress.

However, participants who admitted they experienced high levels of stress and anxiety but had a completely NEUTRAL perception of it - meaning they didn’t view stress as a bad thing - had the absolute LOWEST risk of dying in the same period.

Even lower than the minimally stressed participants.

So, what’s the point?

The perception that our seemingly unstoppable chronic stress and anxiety is ONLY bad and CANNOT be rid of - is literally killing you.

Instead of empowering you.

Or in my words - turning you into a god.

Let’s explore how to channel anxiety and stress…

So how do you use anxiety as a strength?

Acknowledge the significance of the studies I’m about to disclose. These studies (that I mentioned in the previous article) basically demonstrate the benefits of anxious feelings.

Let’s recap them:

#1 More aware of danger. People/places/events/circumstances.

A 2015 study by eLife states that “being anxious could be good for you in a crisis”. Essentially, you will notice danger that others won’t. Awareness that you can use to your advantage.

Hypersensitivity, often associated with anxiety and obsessive thinking, leads to greater analysis of one’s environment.

Anxious people are more likely to think about things in depth or consider a wider number of outcomes than someone else.

#2 Become healthier and assume healthy hobbies.

Another 2015 study by the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology concluded that a positive view on anxiety as something to promote creativity and understanding of the world actually boosts performance.

How? Because that individual now understands themselves and other people better and ultimately hold the capacity to create something special.

Something like writing a book, creating music, directing a movie or… publishing blogs?

Hitting rockbottom can be the best thing to have happened in your life. (Even if it doesn’t feel like it now… it shouldn’t feel very good now.)

This is because you are forced to reevaluate the way you live.

Including how you spend your time, who you spend your time with, your indulgences like sugar and alcohol, how vigorously you work out and how long you sleep.

The most important thing in channeling pain, anxiety and depression comes down to two words. Holistic health.

Whether it be yoga, meditation, high intensity training, cross-fit, sports, expanding your skillset in order to start a business, researching topics to write blogs on… this is holistic health.

This is what’s necessary to be better. To feel better. Anxiety can be one of the greatest drivers for success. It surely was for me.

#3 Channel anxiety into helping others dealing with anxiety, stress and depression. Channel it into self-awareness, self-love, art and productivity.

Another study in 2015, “Intelligence and emotional disorders” by Elsevier deduced that rumination or obsessive thinking by anxious people is VERY often correlated with a high verbal intelligence. Such as writing.

I’ve started this blog. I’ve started posting things that I’ve learnt or WANT to learn - on this website, Instagram and YouTube. I’ve looked into copywriting and how to sell to people.

These are creative things that serve me because I have a greater excuse to learn about the world, other human beings and myself.

I channeled my obsessive thinking into obsessive habits based on self-improvement.

There will be random little things that YOU can do. Maybe you’re interested in these past-times too, or maybe not.

Just start doing different things with your time - that’s ultimately how I moved up from rock-bottom.

#4 Become better at managing stress and help others reduce their stress.

A 2011 study by the Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Science found that people with a higher trait anxiety had better empathetic tendencies.

Anxious people are often very self-aware.

They are attuned with their emotions and with how their brain works and the stories it tells.

Now, getting in tune with your body (like I discussed in my 3 points at the beginning of this article) is a little difficult.

However, if you have a tendency to overthink - according to this study - you’ll find it easier than others to connect with yourself.

BUT - it does take some practice in regards to mindfulness, mind-muscle connection and communicating with yourself via questions or identifying when you have intrusive thoughts.

I’ve talked about that last point before.

Basically, if you realise you’re beginning to think obsessively, you might say out loud, “ah, there’s the overthinking story again”.

This technique is from Russ Harris’ “The Reality Slap”. It just familiarises you with your most common intrusive thoughts.

Are you already using anxiety as a strength?

If you regularly take on each day despite feelings of stress, anxiety and depression, you’ve proven that you hold some level of resilience.

In fact, I’ve known plenty of people that would take days off school and work just because they felt like it.

If you struggle mentally, but still put in the effort…

That’s power. And you’re gonna go far.

I have faith in you.

Continue - but keep learning.

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Why is coping with anxiety and stress important?

It is important for holistic health.

What is that? You might be asking.

It’s the connection between EVERY aspect of your health.

First, let’s start with the body.

Here’s an outline of the dangerous effects unmanaged anxiety and chronic stress can have on your body:

High stress leads to an excessive release of particular chemicals such as dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine.

As these are released, "fight-or-flight" hormones such as adrenaline are also released by the adrenal glands.

This leads to an increased heart rate, increased blood pressure and a weakened immune system because as cortisol increases, T-cells and white blood cells are suppressed. (not good)

If stress becomes chronic and prolonged, these physiological reactions can lead to stomach ulcers, heart disease, asthma and strokes.

Chronic stress is also moderately linked to heart attacks and strokes according to a recent study published by The Lancet.

The biggest bodily consequence, however….

Is stress-induced leaky gut.

Essentially, stress influences which nutrients are digested, at what speed, while also determining how hungry you feel.

Leaky gut (or an inflamed gut) causes chronic disease, such as IBD, obesity, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Stress causes leaky gut by causing an excess release of Lipopolysaccharides in the blood. Otherwise deviously known as Endotoxemia.

Researchers refer to this stress-gut relationship as “stress-induced disrupted barrier function”. Symptoms include nausea, pain, vomiting, heartburn, constipation, acid reflux, or diarrhoea.

This is why learning to manage your anxious feelings and not feed them. We

Becoming a calm individual

Basically, anxious feelings prevent you from making rational decisions.

People think unmanaged anxiety and stress is necessary as it forces you to take action. It doesn’t. It just decreases the amount of consideration that goes into your choices.

Here’s an example I’ve just come up with from a show I’m currently watching, “One of Us is Lying”.

Someone releases one of your secrets. Everybody knows and everybody is judging you.
You freak out and start throwing accusations at other people you know. You do so to some of your own friends.
Those friendships break down and as well as being judged for whatever secret was released, you’re now viewed as unaccountable and an awful friend.
If you’d just kept calm and accepted that you won’t do whatever you did again or even accepted that small immoral acts really won’t impact your reputation too much - people would’ve likely forgotten about the whole ordeal. Very quickly.

A simple example in regards to overthinking is this:

You notice your brain begins to release intrusive thoughts. You’re overthinking about something. Maybe you said something awkward in conversation or finished an exam, job interview, football game, etc and are doubting how you performed.
You latch onto the thoughts. You open up more doors as you begin to think of all the things you could’ve done wrong or what consequences you could face because of some small thing you did.
You fall into a perpetual cycle of anxiety and feel awful for the rest of the day. Moreover, you get a bad sleep as your thoughts keep you up and your anxiety is heightened the next day. You continue to focus on it and before you know it you feel like a mess.
If you’d watched. Observed your thoughts. Perhaps you would’ve been able to simply ignore them and let them pass… like clouds in the sky.

In these cases, a lack of management over anxious feelings make things worse.

NOT the anxiety itself, but an inability to channel it or simply acknowledge its existence calmly. Everything can be done more effectively without stress.

However, this doesn't mean it's unacceptable to worry about anything. Worry's an emotion. Stress, however, is a reaction. And usually, reactive behaviours lead to negative, unplanned decisions, which often result in negative consequences.

Alternatively, one should be proactive. This is thinking before you act. An example is backchatting to an annoying coworker because they're belittling you or being snarky. That's reactive.

That limits you from two benefits you could have received:

Deepen your understanding of how people project their emotions. AKA; understanding that you are developing a level of emotional management that most people don't have.
Increase your confidence by an incremental level. You feel no urge to defend your identity. You know who you are and you know that you're slowly improving.

You get better at proactivity each time you practice calm decision-making.

One more point in regards to calmness is mental clarity.

Stress is the killer of focused thought. By taking actionable steps to decrease your anxiety, you allow your brain to focus on cognitive function, rather than on releasing hormones for fight/flight.

Your memory improves and you are much more capable of focusing your ENERGY.

Focus your energy on observing people. Creating honest relationships. Focusing on a new hobby. A side hustle. Focusing on your desires.

You can achieve more in your life, because you are more in CONTROL of your psychological energy.

Speaking of control...

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How does anxiety control your life?

I'm gonna start with my experience.

I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) when I was around 12/13.

You probably know this already, but OCD is not just making sure all the baked beans label's are facing you as you open the cupboard. It comes with some pretty weird habits.

I would snort water through my nose in the bath and wash my hands weirdly for 30 seconds just to decide I didn't do it right - then return to do it again.

I would wriggle in my own skin because I felt "different weird temperatures" on different parts of my body.

I'd randomly touch the ground with my palms when I went for a run, along with a MILLION other things my mind would obsess over.

I never say I have OCD. It's a criteria, as many mental conditions are.

I'd personally say that I no longer meet "the criteria" for OCD and I always felt like there was something permanently wrong with me whenever I labelled myself with it.

Do you like permanently labelling yourself in a way that debilitates your capacity to improve? No?

Anyways.

Anxiety controls your life by making you feel like everything's against you. Here's what I mean:

The brain learns by connecting dots.

Literally as you sleep, your brain joins information from the previous day with your past experiences, your current beliefs and your presumptions for what's likely to benefit you in the future.

Obsessive thinking involves the same action.

As your brain obsessively stresses over the bad things that COULD happen, the complications involved in something or how you spoke or acted in the past - it does so with a bias.

A bias that says that everything is a threat.

As you continue to let your intrusive or anxious thoughts run rampant, your brain "learns" more and more about the threats in your environment.

Eventually, everything is threatening.

You feel vulnerable, weak and unconfident. These feelings become increasingly embedded in your body as neural synapses , and it becomes harder to recover from stress and anxiety.

Now. Buckle up and listen baby.

This is the MOST IMPORTANT point in this article...

When it comes to mental wellness and personal growth, you can either move exponentially upwards, or spiral exponentially downwards.

In other words, by making the commitment to LEARNING STUFF, you can channel your stress, anxiety, anger, fear, sadness or desire into a sense of drive and meaning that will push you forward for life.

I have no regrets for what I'm about to say...

But JOIN THE EMAIL GROUP.

I intend to learn everything that is relevant to reaching PEAK human potential and then publish it for the world to see.

And the FIRST people to hear about it - will be those in my email group .

Anyways.

The alternative to life-long learning and finding a sense of drive that makes you want to conquer your mind and potential…

Is letting your anxious feelings consume you.

If you make little or no effort to battle your anxious mind. To acknowledge the fact that it's doing an exceptionally poor job at "protecting" you from the outside world. Your brain will continue to reinforce its fearful beliefs - forever.

I mentioned neural synapses before. Basically, as you learn, one of two things is occurring in your body.

New connections are being built between neurotransmitters in your nervous system and neural receptors.

This occurs at a neuronal junction.

OLD connections at a neuronal junction are STRENGTHENED.

For an anxious person failing to address their feelings, this means that even without CONTRIBUTING to those feelings (drinking a lot, illicit drug use and wallowing in self-pity are three examples), neurological connections associated with that anxiety will strengthen.

It will become more annoyingly difficult to channel anxiety and it will also take longer.

If you’ve forgotten where I outlined how to actually address mental struggle, I went through it in the first point of this article, "How to Use Anxiety as a Strength" and in the last two points of my previous article .

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