Brazil’s anxiety struggle reveals 7 lessons

Søren Kierkegaard once said, “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” This reflection comes from an individual sharing a personal account of living with anxiety.

The author states clearly that this is not about positive thinking or finding silver linings, approaches often called “toxic positivity.” It is about a lifelong relationship with anxiety and what has been learned from a condition that does not disappear.

At times, anxiety intensifies to a nearly crippling degree. The author acknowledges that lessons can be hard to appreciate during those spikes, but they exist nonetheless. The author emphasizes that learning from anxiety does not mean endorsing it or considering it good, and would trade all lessons for less anxiety.

An early memory from childhood in the 1980s illustrates the onset of anxiety. During unsupervised tackle football games, an incident where a player’s pants were pulled down, exposing him, caused widespread laughter but sparked fear in the author. This led to behaviors like tying pants tightly with string, causing physical discomfort, and feeling sick before daily activities.

In that era, mental health was not discussed openly. The author was simply seen as the child who often vomited before school, not as someone dealing with anxiety.

Over the past few years, anxiety has become more noticeable. It may have worsened after the author contracted COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. This has led to more mindful and intentional efforts to manage it.

Anxiety Teaches Presence

Severe anxiety forces the author to be fully present in the moment, unable to engage in reading, writing, or entertainment. This intense presence allows recognition of physiological sensations as mere energy, and how the mind transforms them into the emotion called anxiety, which is the source of suffering.

Anxiety Reveals Control

Anxiety provides a lesson in what can and cannot be controlled. The author notes that while external triggers are uncontrollable, the response to them is. It also shifts focus to something larger than oneself, similar to concepts discussed in some support settings.

Anxiety Enforces Habits and Boundaries

When feeling well, the author tends to neglect healthy habits and allow unhealthy people closer. Anxiety spikes serve as reminders to maintain boundaries and “clean house,” reinforcing that unhealthiness has consequences.

Anxiety Highlights Growth

After addressing issues, anxiety prompts looking at new projects and steps toward personal growth. For example, the author chose to let a counseling license go inactive and focus on life coaching due to lower stress, a change attributed to anxiety. Adjustments in diet and exercise were also made in response to health concerns.

Anxiety Encourages Gentleness

Feeling fragile during high anxiety helps the author understand how others might perceive bluntness. Efforts to be gentler, starting around 2018, have been aided by anxious periods, leading to more careful treatment of people.

Anxiety Prompts Slowing Down and Seeking Help

Anxiety spikes are not ideal times for major decisions. The author has learned to slow down, be intentional, and discuss matters with others, embracing the need to ask for help, which is seen as a positive step.

Anxiety Can Speed Up Action

Contrary to slowing down, anxiety also motivates action. Inspired by a quote from folk singer Joan Baez that “Action is the antidote to anxiety,” the author finds that tackling anxiety-inducing tasks, such as phone calls, can help manage feelings.

The author’s experience underscores how anxiety, while challenging, has prompted practical lessons in presence, control, self-care, and interpersonal relationships. The shift in societal awareness around mental health from past decades to the present has provided a clearer framework for understanding these experiences.