Recently, I had to leave my current house. That made me face my mind. Today, I will talk about how to live with less anxiety.
How to reduce our anxiety
Sometimes, we want to reduce our anxiety, especially in times of hardship.
Emotional conflicts often exhaust us during these times. An example is the conflict between money and our way of life. Although we want to live independently, we might not be able to make money. On the other hand, if we try to earn money by working in a job that we are not good at, it will stress us. Both are suffering. That keeps us worrying without making progress.
That is why we want to reduce our anxiety. To solve the exhaustion, we have to change our perspective.
However, we often don’t know how to find another solution.
Today, I will introduce a way of thinking: living with a principle, especially in hard times. This perspective might allow us to find opportunities that suit our values.
Living with a principle
In times of hardship, living with a principle might give us a solution. Although it requires some sacrifices, we can accept them because they are less important in our way of life.
To explain why it reduces our anxiety, let me introduce two mental conflict levels, as follows:
- Inner conflict between our mental duality: This is for long-term self-fulfillment. Although we have to change ourselves, we can solve the problem while following our values. We have mental duality. If we are empathic and creative, we struggle between emotion and logical sense. Switching to a different side than before will lead us to a reasonable solution.
- Inner conflict between our values and others’ values: This is for a short-term solution. Although we can rely on others and solve troubles easily, we cannot leave that society or environment. This often makes us keep worrying in circles without making progress. The conflict between money and our way of life is an example.
Awareness of these two levels and thinking of the former would lead us to a reasonable solution. This would work well, especially in hard times.
Thinking about what we live for
To feel our principles, try thinking about what we live for.
For example, we might live for the betterment of our souls. Being honest with ourselves, finding our potential, and trying to create a more comfortable life are examples. In this article, I call such a persistent mental work as a soul.
If we are empathic and creative, we tend to want to help someone with our creativity in the long run, even if only a few.
To realize it, we don’t have to follow others’ values in the long run. If we can live with our souls, people with similar values can follow us. These followers can learn and improve their lives through our way of life. Even our failures could be learning.
If we move forward, we have something left for them. That will help similar people like us in the future. The harder it is to find a way, the more meaningful it will be. In other words, we are paving the way for the future for ‘us.’
If we can do that, we will have no regrets, even if we die in the middle of the road. Perhaps we can accept it because our dreams and wishes are endless. We want a more comfortable, fulfilling life. It will be a long, long road. We will surely die before we achieve our full wishes. However, we will have no regrets about it.
How to live our life
On the other hand, if we continue to conflict with others’ values, we will regret our lives. Perhaps living only for money or honor would make us feel our lives meaningless. Sticking to how to be patient is the same.
Of course, we sometimes have to compromise with others’ values. We often cannot achieve anything soon. However, if we understand it is a short-term compromise, we can reduce our worries. As long as we can maintain a long-term direction, our patience will be short-term.
In addition, everything changes. Those changes give us new opportunities. A little future change could provide us with a great abundance. We don’t have to judge about the future’s change.
We cannot predict perfectly when we live toward independence with our principles, even if we try to prepare as well as possible. We always have unknown risks, including the possibility of death. Far from longevity, we may die tomorrow. We don’t know what is good or bad in the long run.
However, we can follow our values and leave something behind. Although it may require many sacrifices, they are less important than our true wishes. Letting go of unnecessary things would make us live toward our principles.
Conclusion
The above could be a way of thinking during hard times.
Living with a principle could lead us to a reasonable solution.
This perspective might allow us to find opportunities that suit our values.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
