Nervous Breakthrough: Finding Freedom From Fear and Anxiety in a World That Feeds It.Sample

According to WebMD, “People with anxiety disorders feel a need to control everything around them in order to feel at peace.” The writer of this article indicates that control and anxiety disorders go hand in hand. Let’s do some digging to make sense of what WebMD is trying to teach us. What is at the root of control? When I control, I’m trying to protect my peace. How does one “feel” at peace? By taking control. I liked to control things by dominating every situation. It’s evident by the diagnosis I received, severe panic and anxiety disorder. Peace did not result from that control. What are your controlling ways?

• Do you always have to be right?
• Do you try to determine outcomes in advance to move things in your favor?
• Do you rarely take the blame?
• Do you like being the center of attention?
• Do you rarely seek advice from others?
• Do you like the way you do things best and therefore seldom rely on others for help?
• Do you like to micromanage people?
• Do you constantly check your bank statements and stock performances?
• Do you speak white lies from time to time to make your situation look better?

Is something else coming to your mind that you do to take control of a situation? Let’s stop right here. Part of overcoming a problem is acknowledging a problem.

Now it’s time to evaluate. Does the outcome of those statements you just identified bring peace? Hopefully, I have got your thoughts flowing and you are processing the question, What is peace? To answer that clearly, I think we must define or perhaps redefine peace. Is peace a feeling or a state of being? For example, can you feel peace when the circumstances around you are crumbling? “Absolutely not” is how I would have answered that question pre-nervous breakdown. I assumed that peace is something you achieve, something that manifests when you follow all the proper steps and manage yourself in a way that is free of disturbances.

The world seems to preach that peace is possible when no fear or violence is present. Interestingly, there is no shortage of fear and violence among us. The increasing number of conflicts and amount of hatred toward one another and rising fear and anxiety disorders don’t seem to highlight a peaceful world. This leads me to the question at hand: Can peace be achieved by checking all the right boxes and doing the right yoga moves? Is it possible to enter a state of tranquility or Zen managed by you? Do we have the power to cultivate peace from within? What if the world has got it wrong, and peace is a person?

What if the solution to control is surrender, and surrender leads to peace? The world teaches us to never wave the white flag. Always keep going. Don’t you dare show weakness. Keep on keeping on. Hustle harder. The world offers no accolades to surrender; it frowns upon it. Surrender paints signs of weakness. What if surrender is a strength? Please follow me closely: I’m not proposing surrendering to the world, but I’m asking you to ponder what it would look like to surrender to Jesus, the person who is the Prince of Peace. What if peace is a state of being that starts with surrendering to the Prince of Peace?

Stop and process what peace is to you.