Post 47: A Lie I Tell Myself

I have an anxious thought I noticed always comes up in the same situation over and over. When I am driving on the freeway and I notice my gas is low I can feel a tightening in my chest. I will start to fixate on the fear of not making it, and all the pain it will cause me to run out of gas.

I will have to walk, potentially for a long way, to find a gas station. I will be late to wherever I am headed. I will feel embarrassed when I tell people about how I ran out of gas.

The thing is, I have always found a gas station. I have never run out of gas. So, every single time I have had to sit through that worry, it has never helped me one bit. In fact, it has usually made my experience worse.

By noticing the anxiety, I have been able to lessen it. I can pull my attention away from it and move it to the book I am listening to, the song I am singing, the friend I am talking with. The less of my attention I give it, the less power it has over me.

~Ryan Lynch

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