On the 1st of January 2020, people woke up all around the world with their New Year’s resolutions, planning and picturing their way forward for 2020.
By March 2020, all that had changed, and no one could have prepared us for the changes that have occurred.
By mid-March 2020 we had entered unprecedented times, a way of living that no one had ever experienced. Our way of life, our plans for the future, our daily routines had changed … EVERYTHING had changed overnight.
We live in a world where we are governed by a universal law of ‘cause and effect’ … with every action there is a consequence.
Consequently, with the overnight change to the way we live our lives, there has been significant effect on our:
- Work life
- Family life
- Relationships
- Our state of well-being
- … and so much more
Anxiety was already a world epidemic, impacting our quality of life in varying intensities and with the recent events in society the symptoms of anxiety have exacerbated for many … but WHY?
People who know me well, know that my all-time favourite question is:
I Wonder Why?
If we develop a relationship with the why, we then develop a relationship with cause … thus identifying what is impacting the effect (the outplay, so to speak).
So, what is the WHY around anxiety?
- Life lessons already self-mastered
- Life lessons we are YET to self-master
Where we differ, is what life lesson is already mastered for one is the same life lesson yet to be mastered by another.
Thus, when a person is presented with a part of life they are YET to self-master, there will be anxiety … in varying intensities.
Put simply and answering the WHY and showing a new way forward
| Cause | Identify the life lesson presented |
| Effect | Anxiety – the symptoms in the body telling us there is a part of life presented where self-mastery is yet to occur |
| Self-mastery | Embrace the learning on offer and ask, ‘what skill do I need to learn here so I can respond to life? |
| New effect | With new skills there is no anxiety when that same part of life is re-presented |
Our change of life in 2020 has impacted many parts of many people’s lives … as a result there has been an endless supply of new life lessons that we have not yet had to self-master … too many to individually discuss in this article, but it is fair to say that:
Anxiety is:
Symptoms felt in the body
that occur when a person is presented with a part of life
they perceive they do not yet have the required skills to respond to.
This description of anxiety is simple and holds a personalised explanation as to how each person in the world is either responding or reacting in their unique classroom of life we are all equally a part of.
The classroom of life
We are all in what I call a classroom of life. Every second of every day we are presented with our unique array of life lessons. Life lessons are simply the opportunities life presents us to develop self-mastery over when are ready to embrace the lesson on offer.
What one has self-mastered another may not have … and vice-a-versa … this is what makes us all so uniquely different, while equally being all the same.
The fact is, every single person in the world is exactly the same in that we all have –
- Life lessons already self-mastered
- Life lessons we are YET to self-master
Where we differ, is what life lesson is already mastered for one is the same life lesson yet to be mastered by another.
Thus, when a person is presented with a part of life they are YET to self-master, there will be anxiety … in varying intensities.
Put simply and answering the WHY and showing a new way forward
| Cause | Identify the life lesson presented |
| Effect | Anxiety – the symptoms in the body telling us there is a part of life presented where self-mastery is yet to occur |
| Self-mastery | Embrace the learning on offer and ask, ‘what skill do I need to learn here so I can respond to life? |
| New effect | With new skills there is no anxiety when that same part of life is re-presented |
Our change of life in 2020 has impacted many parts of many people’s lives … as a result there has been an endless supply of new life lessons that we have not yet had to self-master … too many to individually discuss in this article, but it is fair to say that:
Skills to respond to change
Change of any kind requires the skill of ADAPTABILITY. Adaptability simply requires us to embrace a new way forward … to adapt to the new way of living that has been presented.
Too frequently I see people going into control, in that they try to control life, people, work, relationships and family to be what they had initially planned, wanted and expected them to be. The way of control will only increase anxiety as it sets us up for guaranteed failure.
The fact is …
We cannot control life, but we can adapt our way forward by being willing to learn to respond to life and all the life lessons presented.
So, with every new change we can ask: How can we adapt to this new way of –
- Living
- Doing work
- Engaging in relationships
- Being with the family
- Responding (not reacting) to each and every life lesson that is presented and re-presented
Answer:
By embracing every life lesson on offer and asking: What is being presented here for me to self-master now?
How:
Embrace everyone in your life as a potential life teacher. Observe and be willing to learn from everyone and every situation and develop a relationship with being prepared to be –
- A forever student of life
- A forever teacher of life
This approach embraces a way forward with adaptability and self-mastery … a guaranteed method for reduced anxiety and thus improved quality of life, no matter what life lesson is presented and re-presented.
Originally published on Impulse to Action Consulting’s blog in May 2020
