Every venture of life involves our moving from a known reality and security to an unknown one over which we don’t have control. This always causes apprehension to rise in us as this movement involves taking a risk – whether it is in learning a new skill, being in a relationship, having faith in God, doing your work, going on a new adventure, even just living. But if we don’t take the risk we will lose ourselves.

Anxiety is the driver pushing us forward to learn, grow, change, but because of negative connotations around it we tend to think of it as an unwelcome emotion. But anxiety is our life force, a powerful feeling that needs managing so it doesn’t overwhelm us. Like with those old windup toys it will serve us well if we don’t overwind it to breaking point.

Order Sergio’s CD Series on Befriending Ourselves

We all need times of loving self-care. We need to face our difficult emotions and embrace our unacceptable parts (such as our anxiety, fear and depression), to move into wholeness and become our own best friend. 

The temptation is to pull back when we feel that uncomfortable feeling rising in us. We then react according to our habitual pattern, bypassing our minds. We will need to retrain our ingrained reactions. Firstly this needs awareness of our particular pattern. Then we will need to find someone outside ourselves to be accountable to as we start to put new behaviour into place. As we continue practicing in different areas of our lives, moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar we’ll feel alive and we’ll grow. We will discover ourselves more and more with each step we take.