Living ‘normally’ in anxious times

If we think on the present day as hitherto, an anxious time—war descending into our living rooms in a moment, pandemic waxing and waning—variants imposing, climate change disaster far from averted, economies in the balance, the end of life as we know it.  It bears down like that, doesn’t it?

Then we think to the momentousness of our own lives, dynamics in our workplaces and marriages and streets, challenges from without challenging our peace from within, amid dynamics of the uncertainties of life.  Loss, the great threat to our equilibrium, and the burden of such possibilities breeds... anxiety.

We wonder if we’ve ever been so stressed.  I think back to 2019 in the context of today’s world, and it seems so banal.  Yet, back then it, like today, had pressures all its own—December 15 that year, for instance, was a moment when the darkness of mental incapacity descended scarily.  I was due a good break and yet when you’re there, amid burnout, you truly wonder if you’ll ever regain what you never thought would be a threat to retain: one’s functional mind.

I was reminded recently of this wisdom in terms of the perpetuity of anxiety:

“Human life has always been lived on the edge of a precipice.”
—C.S. Lewis, December 1939.

Anxiety is normal to the human experience.  At every given time of our lives.  Sure, thoughts of wars, famine, plagues, climate catastrophes raise the alarm a notch, but the uncertainties of life are ever present.

Living ‘normally’ in anxious times is about reminding ourselves that anytime will always challenge our equilibrium.  We’ll always be concerned for ourselves, others, how we feel, what we think, the situations of our lives, our world.  We’ll always worry about tomorrow.

Yet... the following is possible, a moment at a time:

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
—Jesus as cited by Matthew 6:34

Perhaps what Jesus was getting to overall in Matthew 6:25-34 was all we can do is do our best, set our priorities in the best order we can, don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good, and get on with the present moment, choosing to smile and be intentionally hopeful, because we can.

No matter what happens with our world, we cannot control what others do.  We can only exist in the acceptance that what comes, comes.  We’ll always be ready.  There’s nothing like not having an option to help us cope with what must be coped with.  Seriously, we arrange courage to suit our circumstances and we’re equipped with what we need when we need it.

In the events of life, in the daily frustrations, in the temptations to call it all too hard, we’re encouraged most through considering how far we’ve come already—even to the present day.

Whatever comes, we’ve got what it takes.

We’ve got good records for showing up.

Keep going.  A smile in fear defies the power that would subjugate us.