“We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.”
– Chanakya, Indian philosopher, b. 370 BC
Sunday, the sermon at our church cited a study that finds “the anxiety level of the average college student today is the same as the average mental patient in the 1950’s.” It’s easy to understand.
We live in a time of unprecedented wealth and convenience. Many of you are reading this on a hand held device that is more powerful than the computers NASA used to get us to the moon. We are one click or tap away from whatever our mind can conceive, yet we’re producing a crop of kids that are more anxious than mental patients just two generations ago.
What gives? Why is this anxiety epidemic taking place in times that are more like the Jetsons than the Jeffersons, “pre-movin’ on up?”
As important, what can we do about it?
- Get off the phone! Stop texting, streaming, searching and posting and interact! Make a list of five people that create positive feelings for you, and spend time, face-to-face with them in the next two weeks. Measure your feelings going in to and out of each of the conversations. Write them down. Figure out a way to engage, to be real with the people that matter most to you.
- Connect with something bigger. In Tommy Nelson’s book A Life Well Lived, he asks, “What impact does it have on us when we realize that all meaning must come from outside ourselves?” It does, you know? All meaning comes from something bigger than we are. Prioritizing that connection casts anxiety to the curb, and empowers all the positive energy in us to make a difference for those around us.
- Be here, now. Remember the old Heinz ketchup commercial set to the Carly Simon song, “Anticipation?” Well, there’s too much anticipation in play today, and all it does is make us anxious. It seems like all society wants us to do is to worry about tomorrow. Global warming! Fracking! Immigration! Poverty! ISIS! The disastrous effects of (fill in the politician of your choosing here)! Worse is time spent on things in the past. The biggest mistake I ever made was not inviting my dad to my bachelor party, because I didnt think he’d want to go, and that he’d feel pressured to. Dumb. Move. But also one that is almost 20 years in the past, 13 of which have been without Dad. I can’t fix it. I can’t change it. I can only learn from it. So, what does it mean to be here, now? Frank Laubach’s book, Letters By A Modern Mystic, suggests that we ask, without ceasing, “Father, what do you desire said / done this minute?”
I’m not suggesting that we should be disconnected, evangelical hippies. (Wait, that actually sounded pretty good….but I digress…). Rather, if we replace a small part of the time spent worrying with face-time with difference makers, quiet time with God and an awareness that those closest to us need us here, now — I bet we’ll reduce 80% of our anxiety — and that’s a pretty good outcome.
Leave a Reply