Healing is letting go. Let go of all negative thoughts, emotions and memories. It is living in the moment, not the past. If you really want to find peace of mind and even body, you must let go of everything that holds you back. Negative energies only serve to hold us down and keep us reliving the past. Holding on to negative energies further perpetuates the flow of more negativity. If you live life through the veil of anxiety, you will see only what it allows you to see. You will not see the good memories or the happy events that we have been a part of. You will not see your children grow more and more every day because you will be too absorbed in trivial things. The fact is that you cannot allow the hurts and decisions of the past to dictate your future. You have the control. YOU have the ability to change things. It’s easy to let anxiety present us with a distorted sense of perception. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day struggles. I used to experience panic attacks every day. Little by little, I let go. I stopped caring what strangers thought of me because I realized I was putting more weight into the words they said and the things they did than they were. He was empowering everyone else by accepting their opinions as his own. It doesn’t matter how you look. It doesn’t matter what you do or say. Most of the time, it only matters to you and no one else.

I overcame social anxiety through exposure therapy. I hated talking to people. I hated going out. I hated interacting. So what did I do? Live comedy. Suddenly, all my negative experiences and emotions were fuel for jokes and routines. Every bad thing that happened to me now was fair game to turn into something funny. The more I laughed at myself, the more others laughed with me. The anxiety went from a road block, to a catapult for my material. Suddenly, I went from questioning myself to getting tons of positive feedback. I was somebody. I had an identity. I belonged to a group of people who do what many others cannot. I was a comedian. When I’m on stage, I’m in control. The audience reacts just as I planned in my routine (most of the time). I wore it as a badge of honor. Suddenly, every bad thing that happened to me was funny. Always looking for new material, I developed a new way of thinking. I had to find the humor in everything. Have good things happened to me? I win. Do bad things happen to me? I win.

Now, I expect you to go out there and start doing stand up? No. But the whole basis of this is exposure therapy. You MUST face your fear and prove to yourself that it’s not as bad as you think, because it probably isn’t. Anxiety exaggerates everything. It’s misleading. Do not listen to him. Take small steps. Say hello to a stranger. Offer an opinion in a discussion. Make eye contact. Speak with confidence. You’ll most likely never see strangers again, so even if you get a negative reaction, who cares? It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t. The only thing that matters is what you decide, not your anxiety. The power to change your life is within you. All you have to do is use it. Stop empowering others by letting their opinions weigh so heavily. Who are they? Seriously, who ARE they and what have they done that is so good and so “better” that their opinions suddenly become truths? An opinion is NOT a truth. Look in the mirror, decide who you are and I KNOW that, but be sure to back up your perception with BELIEFS that you have about yourself. Unshakable beliefs. Beliefs so strong that no one can make you doubt them. When you decide on a belief, stay true to it. It’s going to be hard at first like all things, but the more you reinforce it, the stronger it becomes and soon NO ONE can take you down. That is the power of belief.