This is a Call to Action
Millennials.
We can’t completely eliminate anxiety. But we can re-focus our attention on the fears that really matter in order to decrease it; to set it at a level that is appropriate for the actual life-threatening stimuli present in our lives.
Let’s go back to the beginning and recall the difference between fear and anxiety.
Fear requires a direct stimulus. Anxiety does not.
Fear concentrates the mind on direct threats, while anxiety creates a web of worry that wraps itself around everyday life.
It seems, as we grew up under the direction of parents constantly striving to eliminate fears -- through padding and helmets and warnings and hushed tones about scary realities -- our anxiety grew alongside us. They more they tried to keep us safe, the more we felt that our world was an unsafe place. The less we got to experience what it was like to actually face a fear and assess the risk, the more we became incapable of prioritizing the dangers in our life.
Look At the Facts
We are living in a safer world, where the chances of war and terrorism directly affecting our lives are far less likely than cancer or a fatal accident. But our minds tell us differently, which explains the reason why someone will smoke a cigarette as they worry about a potential terrorist attack.
Smoking causes 90% of chronic pulmonary disease cases, and Americans face a 1 in 27 chance of dying from that disease. On the other hand, Americans face a 1 in 45,808 of dying from a terrorist.
Accurate assessment of risk is a significant weakness of humans, today more than ever before, and the dramatic increase of anxiety in millennials is proof of just this.
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Let's have some anxiety about our anxiety.
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And now, inhale and exhale. Relax. There is hope.
We can change our course of emotional history.
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Let's Do it.
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Instead of letting our anxieties determine what we deem most dangerous, we need to recognize what our healthy fears should be. The fears that are truly impacting our safety and survival today. By doing this, we can focus less on the bad things we think are going to happen (but most likely will not), and focus more on the bad things that could actually affect our lives.
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How do we do this?
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We train our minds to reflect the reality. We use the statistics -- the lifetime odds that a particular disaster will strike -- to guide our energy and our attention. This way, our worries can become helpful instead of distracting; life-saving and not life-threatening.
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OK...What should we worry about?
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1. Drug Overdoses.
In 2016, 35 in every 100,000 young adults age 25-34 years
old died from a drug overdose. In 2017, the opioid crisis
was declared a public health emergency for good reason.
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2. Disease.
Heart disease, Cancer, Stroke, Diabetes.
These are all within the top 10 killers of Americans.
As we think about improving national security and the
safety of our children, we must ration a hefty dose of
attention for health and wellness initiatives.
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3. Motor Vehicle Accidents.
Over 37,000 people die in car crashes every year in America.
A study done by AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety indicated
that compared to other birth cohorts, millennials are
1.6 times more likely to read a text or email while driving
and almost 2 times more likely to write out a text while
driving. Distracted driving is a life-threatening trend.
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4. Climate Change.
Pollution, nutrition, water safety and disease
are all affected by climate change.
A report from DARA International linked
400,000 deaths worldwide to climate change
every year. The report also predicts
600,000 deaths each year by the year 2030.
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What about gun control?
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Our fear of being involved in a mass shooting is not justified
by statistics, but of course that doesn’t mean we
shouldn’t care. If people are dying, we can speak out and
stand up for what we think is right.
But the truth about gun deaths is: the greatest number of
deaths by guns in America are suicides. And suicide IS a
top health threat. More than 60% of guns deaths in America
are suicides. So by worrying about the issue of gun control,
we are also addressing the health risk of suicide.
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What if we're anxious about the wrong things?
What if we're missing the most important threats?
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What if we grow even more anxious?
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Will we pass this heightened anxiety on to our own children?
What can we do?
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We have the power to choose our fears. And remember: fear is not a bad thing. It's how we survive and make good choices. Face the fears you have control over, and let go of the ones you don't.
Start with the fact that we are safer than we have ever been before. We are a living paradox: despite the fact that we are safer, we worry more about our safety -- about external threats that are not actually likely to happen.
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The true threats present in our lives are within. We can change our own statistics.
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How? Take control of your own safety.
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Do you put on your seatbelt every time you're in the car?
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Do you light up a cigarette every time you are out with your friends?
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Can you get involved in organizations dedicated to preventing drug abuse and suicide?
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These are the actions we can take to address the fears we should really be worrying about. These are the things we can control.
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Our parents' greatest fears were war, nuclear threat and environmental destruction. Our control over these larger issues is not as direct. However, we do have the power to make a difference. We have our vote.
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Who said you had to have less fears to be fearless? Let's focus on the fears that matter. Let's regain the confidence and freedom our Baby Boomer parents had when they were young adults and change the Anxious Generation to the Fearless Generation.
"The secret is not to be afraid of fear. When you can really allow yourself to be afraid, and you don’t resist the experience of fear, you are truly beginning to mask the fear. But when you refuse to be afraid, you are resisting fear. And that simply sets up a vicious circle of being afraid of fear, and being afraid of being afraid of fear and so on. And that’s what we call worry. Worry is simply a chronic condition. And people who worry are going to worry no matter what happens."
Alan Watts