#3: To stop anxiety and depression: Stop time travelling!

Depression is living in the past. Anxiety is living in the future. So enjoy the shit out of now… dwelling on the past cannot change anything, worrying about the future will only feed your anxiety. Stay anchored in the present and make the most of what’s in front of you.

Transcription

Good morning guys, its another magnificent morning this morning.

Got out here, caught the sunrise, somewhere back there, beautiful morning and ‘B Doggy’ we’re out here doing our walk, doing our thing, getting ready for the day ahead. The last time we spoke we talked about ‘Where we focus is where we go’. Today, almost equally important, is time traveling and how that relates to stress.

I’m Ian Schell and I’m glad to be alive!

So the saying goes that depression that in the past and anxiety is living in the future. So depression is living in the past it’s wishing you could go back in time and change something that happened to you or that you’ve done. And this difference between reality and what you wish had happened, is what causes you stress.

On the flipside anxieties living in the future it’s worrying about things that haven’t happened yet and what people might think, do or say or how you might behave, what you might talk about, all these things that might whip through your head before the event, and usually by the time you get to that event, you’re a bit of a mess because it never works out the same way.

So a great way to get around depression and anxiety is to anchor yourself in the current moment, live in the now. Focus on a sensation in the body like the breath through the nose or something in the room feature of the other person talking to, something to bring you back to this point in time and really anchor yourself there, because as soon as the mind starts to take off and starts to think about all of these things that aren’t real, that’s when you anxiety raises. So bring yourself back to now, calm down and just enjoy the moment for what it is.

An example of anxiety which I had to overcome recently was our 20-year high school high school graduation reunion. And at our graduation party (’96) I made a rear fool of myself. I drank way too much, I ended up naked throwing up in people’s bedrooms, it was not a good experience. And I knew I was gonna cop flack for that at this event so at first I started to think, ‘Oh shit, maybe I shouldn’t go’ All worst things that could possibly think of going through my mind and, you know, I thought nup, not gonna think about it not gonna worry about it until the day. And so sure enough, on the drive there, this anxiety started to raise and I started to panic and really have this overwhelming sense of ‘oh shit’ but you know what i had this thought that popped through my head and I have stuck with that, and it’s such a powerful thing. My thought was that “I didn’t have these people yesterday, I probably won’t have these people again tomorrow so I’m gonna enjoy the shit out of today”. You know what, it was a fantastic event, i’m so glad i went. It was great to catch up the old crew and it just went off well. An interesting side note, I only got ribbed about the the nakedness, about the the graduation party about 20-30 times so it really wasn’t that bad. But it was fun.

An example of depression for me was dwelling on ‘sliding doors moments’ where you’re life could have clearly taken one of two paths depending on your choice at the time. And it’s this dwelling on the past, this wishing that you could change things, it’s struggling with your past and it’s fighting against your past that causes us stress. At that point in time you did the best you could, and that’s all anyone ever does, is the best they can.

So just a quick recap, depression is living in the past, anxiety is living in the future, so enjoy the shit out of today and make the most of the opportunities that are in front of you. You know, your past is gone, learn from it, take all the valuable lessons that you like. Your future hasn’t happened yet so don’t stress about that it’ll happen as it’s supposed to. Anyway, have a magic day guys! Thanks for the likes, shares and love and I’ll talk to you very soon.

Much love

Ian