Today I want to give you a powerful tool for not just managing anxiety, but for developing real strength and faith in yourself.
We don’t give ourselves enough credit for what we can handle. Too many of us live in a constant state of worry and anxiety. Anxiety often arises when we are disconnected from trust. Trust in ourselves, in life, and in our own capacity to meet what comes. My goal is to help you develop a belief that is fundamental to being free from anxiety; no matter what happens I’m good.
I came across a reel on Instagram a few weeks ago that illustrated how to do this brilliantly. A woman named Emily shared a story about her mom being in the hospital back in 2011. Her mom was there for a month, fighting for her life. Every night the doctors told the family she wasn’t going to make it. Every morning, somehow, she was still holding on.
Emily described how unbearable the anxiety was during that time, the uncertainty, the fear, the endless questions: What am I going to do if my mom dies? How will I handle it? I’m not ready for that.
Then a family friend named Bill, who’s an oncologist, sat with her and said something that shifted her:
“Emily, the version of you that will handle that, if it happens, doesn’t exist yet. She will be born in that moment. And she’ll have more experience, more strength, more perspective than you do now.”
In other words, stop trying to solve future problems with today’s tools. You don’t have them yet. But you’ll grow into them when life demands it.
That lesson, trust your future self to handle future problems, might sound simple, but it’s everything.
Most of us waste so much energy trying to outrun uncertainty. But what if you could trust the version of you that shows up when it counts? If you’re reading this I think we can agree that you’re batting a thousand on living through shitty times. You are stronger than you give yourself credit for,
Let me leave you with this:
What’s the anxiety you’re holding onto right now that you can finally set down, because future you is built to handle it?
live freed,
Jordan
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