Spartan Christianity

Anxiety. This is one of those feelings that some Christians think it’s wrong to have. “If my faith is strong enough, I won’t feel anxiety”. “If I’m a good Christian, I won’t be anxious”. “Faithful people aren’t anxious”.

Dead wrong.
Biochemically wrong.
Insipid mentality.

1 – Anxiety can be chemical.

There are different types of anxiety, and some of them can come through a chemical imbalance in the brain. Depression can also be the result of a similar imbalance.

I think chemical imbalances are the minority of anxiety and depression cases, but that does not mean they do not exist. Consider that your problem may be chemical, save up money and get tested by a doctor. Take the guesswork out of life and have a doctor check you out.

2 – Anxiety can be mental.

If it’s not a chemical thing, it could very easily be a mental thing. We give ourselves feedback loops by taking actions that lead to other actions. Those actions eventually lead back to the original behavior. This is represented best in the cycle of how habits are made.

Cue-> Craving -> Behavior->reward-> cue

We do this with our minds as well. One anxious thought leads to other thoughts which increase anxiety. Then we notice our increased anxiety which in turn increases our anxiety. This goes on forever.

3 – Anxiety is irrational, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Some Christians like to tell you, “It’s all in your head, you can think yourself out of it”. People who say that are so stupid that you would have to move several decimal places just to numerically represent their microscopic IQ.

Whether or not it’s “just in your head” does not make anxiety any less real.

You can look at anxiety in a test tube, it’s called epinephrine and cortisol, among other things.

Can you think yourself out of it? Maybe. I think it varies case to case. I don’t think we should elevate ourselves to god-status by thinking we can override biochemistry. Not many people have the indomitable will necessary to break the anxiety cycle by themselves. Even fewer can override their own biochemistry.

Anxiety is real, and it’s more real depending on your personality. People pleasers have greater problems with anxiety because they are always worried about others. This makes it more difficult for them to break out of anxiety by themselves.

4 – Anxiety can cripple a faith.

Mom-bloggers may tell you otherwise, but there is nothing emotional about faith itself. However, faith can be affected by various emotions. Anxiety is one of those, and it is not a constructive emotion. Anxiety can chew up your faith and spit it out. Anxiety gives birth to the dark existential questions about life and about the nature of God Himself.

Anxiety stays awake through the night wondering why God would go through with creation knowing most of it would burn.

Anxiety wonders whether or not God’s grace is real.

“Does it cover my sin?
Is it enough for even me?
Did God mean it when He said that He was not willing that any should perish? He is obviously okay with some perishing, otherwise we wouldn’t have made us to begin with. Who is the God I worship?”

Anxiety causes these questions to never be answered.

How to deal with anxiety.

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you to “pray about it” and then all your problems will go away magically. That’s not how prayer works. God is not a vending machine for inserting your prayers into so blessings will pop out. That’s an irreverent and selfish mindset. God already answered a lot of prayers by giving you a working brain so you can think and figure out your own problems. So here are some practical things you can implement instantly for anxiety.

1 – Medicine.

I know this opposes most Christian agendas, especially traditionalist/conservative ones. But the first thing you should do is see a doctor and find out if you have a biochemical problem. No amount of prayer, faith or Bible study is going to change your brain’s chemistry. While only a small percentage of people suffering from anxiety can actually chalk it up to a chemical problem, that doesn’t mean you aren’t one of them. Get it checked out by a doctor before you do anything.

2 – Cold Showers:

Cold showers, or at least bursts of cold water, can do wonders for your anxiety. Some research suggests that it releases a natural anti-anxiety and anti-depression hormones. Whether that is true or not is up to you when you test it out. When you get hit with the cold water, you are forced to breathe faster. This hyper-oxygenates the blood and makes you feel alive. You may feel slightly light-headed, but not in the nauseous sense. The good feeling after that shower lasts a good while.

3 – Hard weight training or sprinting.

Jogging, aerobics and circuit training are not what you need. You need something intense. Training intensely releases beta-endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers.

Beta-Es are the most powerful of all endorphins, and we can access them through self-imposed pain. Don’t waste your time jogging or doing something light. It will take you forever to get to the point where you have released enough endorphins to make a difference. You have to pass a pain threshold before the body decides to shut down the pain.

Intense training also increases blood flow to the brain, you can literally feel this one when you are done. The problems that were in your head an hour ago? Now you are thinking up solutions to them. You’ve earned the God-designed natural high from working at something. Train every day. Perform some kind of physical activity every day.

4 – Meditation

Note: this may not instantly make you feel better, especially if you try to do it by yourself. Go to YouTube and find a video on “Guided Meditation”. That way someone will walk you through the thoughts you need to have. The video will also give you an idea of what meditation is about. You don’t have to start with much time, two minutes is good. Learn to control your breath, for in breath is the power of life.

5 – Reduce your caffeine.

It’s like asking you to sell a child, but cutting down slightly on soda, coffee or tea will help you. Even if we aren’t anxious, caffeine gives anxiety “symptoms” like increased heart rate, increased blood pressure. And it thins our blood and dehydrates us. If you can’t reduce your caffeine, take it in along with a meal of slow digesting foods like good fats and fiber, no simple sugars. Caffeine will then be released more slowly in the bloodstream, instead of a bursting onto the scene and giving us a heart attack.

6 – Amp your prayers.

Here it is, the typical emotionalistic point of “Oh just pray about it”. That’s not how prayer is treated in the Bible. We approach God with reverence always, not how people approach Him nowadays as a “buddy” or “Daddy”. No, absolutely not. That is highly disrespectful. “For our God is a consuming Fire” – Hebrews 12:29.

Approach God in humility, letting your requests be made known to Him so the peace that passes understanding will guard your mind. That verse is misunderstood. Because it’s not like you are gonna pray and then “POOF”, your anxiety is gone. Prayer doesn’t magically change the molecular structure of cortisol. But consistent prayer every day, that adds up to make the difference over time.

One workout doesn’t automatically give you abs.
Playing the guitar one time doesn’t make you a virtuoso.
Add consistent prayer to your arsenal, and it will start to shift your thoughts over time.

7 – Stop beating yourself up about it.

I’m strongly anti-constant guilt. I think guilt is a good catalyst to make us want to change, but it shouldn’t be the prime motivator, nor the sustainer of change. Because then we wouldn’t really care about doing right, we would only care about relieving our guilt. So don’t beat yourself up about feeling anxious.

Does the Bible tell us not to be anxious? Yes it does. But it also tells us to avoid a lot of things. They aren’t going to go away instantly on the first day we start trying to change. They can only go away through continual work over long periods of time. Understand you are trying to because less anxious over the long term, and it’s not going to change overnight. That attitude will put you in a Better position to be effective in your quest for change.