Most of Your Anxiety Comes from This Question

Most anxiety comes from the question – “what if?” 

It’s uncertainty.  Go back to your school days.  So much of what you learn is based on certainty, yet life is filled with uncertainty.  One person said it this way, growing up you study to avoid mistakes, but in life… mistakes ARE the study.

Uncertainty creates anxiety for most of us, but it often creates less anxiety as you age… because you’ve experienced more uncertainty and built up your tolerance.  Sort of like how the weights are really hard to lift at first, but you build strength or tolerance over time and they get easier. 

So many of us have an anxiety fueled desire for certainty.  The irony is we can’t really have it.  We’re chasing after something that’s not totally possible, which just exacerbates the anxiety spiral.  Feel familiar?  

To some degree, we all need to unlearn the idea that life is predictable.  You must move forward with uncertainty.  You won’t feel more successful having all the answers and knowing exactly what will happen.  You’ll feel more successful by not needing to have all the answers and know exactly what will happen.  Life rewards curiosity over certainty.

In addition to hosting The Sean Show on B105.7, Sean Copeland is a therapist at Evolve Therapy in Greenwood, IN.