How to Make Friends with Anxiety: Factoring Anxiety

When do you feel anxious?

When you cannot see the future. When you don't know if your choices are right. When you think about someone dear to you. People surely feel anxious when they imagine the future. At such times, I try changing my perspective a little. Instead of carrying the anxiety as it is, I try to make it a bit more concrete. I try writing down what I am anxious about. And then, I try factoring that anxiety. What I thought was one big anxiety, when I look at it closely, consists of: ・Worries about health ・Worries about money ・Worries about the future ・Worries about human relationships

In that way, it is sometimes divided into several small anxieties.

And then, I try asking: where is the subject of this anxiety?

Let's break down specifically whose anxiety it is and what it is about. Once you can divide your anxiety this far, a research theme will emerge. Once the research theme is decided, set a hypothesis and verify it. Hypothesis → Verification → Hypothesis → Verification. That repetition. When I look at anxiety that way, a strange thing happens. Even if the anxiety doesn't disappear, I stop being swallowed by it.

Instead of thinking of anxiety vaguely as anxiety, I can become absorbed in trial and error to solve the research theme, to solve the problem. As I share the research theme with someone or repeat the process of hypothesis and verification, the number of fans who support me also increases.

Looking back on anxiety like this, I remember. When I was anxious, there were people around me who showed it through actions rather than words. After I told my grandmother that the doctor at the hospital recommended I eat eggs because I was anemic, she bought a lot of raw eggs every time I visited her house, and entrusted me with them to take home when I left. When I was troubled by shallow sleep, I once mentioned that drinking Yakult 1000 helped me sleep well. Since then, my father bought me Yakult 1000 every single day without fail. Even on his days off from work, even on rainy days, he never missed a single day. My grandfather always answered when I called him. My 90-year-old grandfather always kept his mobile phone charged so he wouldn't miss the sound of a call, and kept it by his pillow so he could answer whenever it rang. Not through direct words, but through actions of consideration for others in daily life. From those actions, I could feel that he was by my side and that he cared about me. That was more than enough to convey it. And I still think about it today. The gratitude I felt at that time will surely continue into the future. You don't have to carry anxiety alone. Sometimes, just talking to someone makes it a little lighter. It can be family, a friend, or someone you trust. I want you to consult someone. Please feel free to contact me anytime if you'd like. Let's factor the anxiety together and look at it one by one. And I think: I want to be a person who can gently stand by those who are anxious. Regardless of my own situation, I want to be a person who can spend time for the sake of others. Just as my grandmother did. Just as my father did. Just as my grandfather did. Just as the many people who have helped me until now have done. Let's spend tomorrow with a calm heart, valuing consideration for others. Let's give anxiety a research theme. Surely, somewhere, there is a companion doing the same research.