C — Cease Anxious Thoughts
Originally posted at http://tarsoxjr.blog
Previous post E — Enter Into Quiet Time
Cease anxious thoughts about the future.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
Most people who know me would tell you I’m easy going and laid back, and while for the most part that’s true, there are definitely plenty of anxious thoughts. I’m a constant career planner and think about the future and providing for my family. I operate on 5-year plans which are actually very simple and were shared with me by an executive early in my career. He said, “if you don’t have a GPS how do you know when to take an exit?” ( no kidding, I gave him my resignation 3 days later) The exit, in this case, came up quickly but I knew it was the right one and kept moving forward. From the time I started my career I was always looking for the next rung in the ladder and over the years became a solid leader. Primarily because I could rally the troops by genuinely caring about people who worked for me and we would take on any problem. The rub is, this where anxious thoughts began to creep into my psyche in my latest role. I was in a place where I was no longer making progress toward my career goals, my family knew it and I was constantly working to take control of the situation. That’s when it hit me…don’t take control let loose of it for a moment. For my career that was actually the easy part…in my mind, it was a different story.
I mentioned in my opening blog A Leap of Faith that I lost my father to cancer back in 2010. I had never really thought of cancer until that day he was diagnosed ( you usually don’t until it hits you right in the mouth ). He battled for over 2 years and I know he always wondered if he did it to himself by not being healthier. He had a very rare type of abdominal cancer, but even still I know he thought about it. I did/do as well, I have not been the picture of health in my lifetime that’s for sure, I’m trying to do better and stay more active…but it was always in the back of my mind…”did I have it?”
What God has done to help ease my anxious thoughts in this area has been amazing. I could write another post on these and probably will but…in 2011 the day before my son Everett was born I had my appendix out ( this was one of the suspected causes of dad’s cancer ), then in 2013 I had a hernia that needed to be repaired ( from said appendix surgery and birth ) and finally at 41 in Feb 2017 I had my first colonoscopy. In each of these instances, I told the doctors my concerns and each time they came back and said “you do NOT have cancer”, with this last one it was during this decision process and man was it freeing. Now, I’m not naive enough to think I couldn’t still have it but I have been opened up, looked at every which way and I try and cast aside these anxious thoughts and leave them with God. I don’t think He’s done with me yet.
The bottom line is this rings very true, “do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” I still worry, things still try and creep in my mind but I am able to more confidently move forward, striving toward my goals by ceasing my anxious thoughts. I’m sure there will be more of them that creep in over the coming weeks but I’m confident I will be able to overcome them. Most importantly I know that anxious thoughts do nothing for my mental or physical health. Worry does not add one minute to your life, but there are times where it feels like it can erode away at it bit by bit and before you know it you’ve worried yourself into an early grave. I’m not saying I don’t worry at all anymore but I have certainly ceased my anxious thoughts greatly and trust in God fully.
