Anxious = Self Centered

I am an anxious person so I know the ins and outs of anxiety well.


When we are feeling anxious and worried a lot, we are very focused on the thoughts we are having. The thoughts can become all consuming, and it's hard to see past them.

What if, what if, what if- our thoughts go round and round, without giving us a break. We become more and more keyed up, more fearful of the impending doom. We become so focused on our thoughts, that other more rational views cannot penetrate.


We dismiss those more calm scenarios, because the fear button has been activated and takes over. Our fearful thoughts become more and more the only thing we can see. This is exhausting emotionally and physically. Our flight or fight instinct is activated and nothing else exists.

The self centeredness comes because we cannot see beyond our own thoughts- those fear thoughts become our only focus. The good things in our life get dismissed, which is sad because the good things in our life are one of the remedies for anxiety. When we can fight back from the fear thoughts and look at what is good (and there always is good in our lives), we calm down the fearful part, and give other parts a say in how we feel.

Doing something for someone else can be really help ease our anxiety because this takes us outside of ourselves and our thoughts, which lessen the fearful hold they have on us. When we do something for others our self centeredness lessens and magically, our anxious thoughts reduce-they can't compete when we remove our focus from them, even if it's just for a little bit.

For those of us who are introverted and internally focused, a healing balm for our anxiety is to get connected to others. Introverted people spend so much time in their heads, that "getting out of their head" for a while by interacting with others can interrupt the anxious thoughts. Being connected to others is healing for so many things; and introverted people need to make more of an effort if they are feeling alone in their thoughts.

Being anxious is exhausting. Be gentle with yourself when you are anxious, and make an effort to not scare yourself more than you already are.

We abuse ourselves with all the doom scenarios we come up with. Think gentle more rational thoughts, and do something for another and your anxiety will lessen.