Stray dogs go days without food or water, they have nothing. They have no home, but their only will to survive is to fight. I would argue they survive based on one factor. The mortalizing fear of not knowing where they will get their next meal. Fear is how they truly survive on the streets that could swallow them whole.
As the weather turns on Asbury’s campus, the cold air has begun to feel like cold needles in the back of my throat. My wardrobe changed from shorts and athletic shirts to joggers and sweatshirts.
Each weekday morning I walk to the Luce to workout with the rest of the baseball team. The sun has yet to wake up so I walk briskly under the streetlights from Johnson Hall to the top of the hill by the water tower. Oftentimes, the Asbury stocking cap masks the AirPods filling my ears and mind with Metallica, Korn and System of a Down. Regardless of my music, this is the quietest part of my day. The illegal amount of caffeine consumed 15 minutes prior has yet to take effect as I haven’t reached the Luce doors.
This is the part of my day that determines the tone and attitude until my mullet hits my pillow that night. In reality, I am in a state of unknown. I am unsure of what interactions I will be faced with that day. I am unsure if I will face conflict and embarrassment. I am unsure if I will have an opportunity to do a good deed or make someone on campus smile.
Fearing the unknown is actually the best part of my day.
It is that concern and worry that puts these events into a different perspective. I do not know what’s going to happen, so I better make every minute count.
This emotion of fear is the best thing for us, if we look at it the right way.
Stress is a natural response to uncertainty or the unknown. When we are in a new situation or facing confusing circumstances, it is normal to feel worried about what the future may hold for us. These feelings can help us anticipate what is to come and can motivate one’s actions. In small amounts, this stress can be beneficial.
Although when this stress becomes chronic, people may start to see negative effects on mental and physical self well-being. Worrying too much can also cause us to avoid the things we find stressful, which worsens that anxiety.
These are steps that can help utilize stress and fear:
- Chunk the stress.
Allowing yourself to catalog what might happen, and how much pain you will feel as a result. Going down this road can lead to sabotaging your efforts in the present. Instead of derailing yourself from future plans and goals while in the present, become concerned with just taking on today.
- Toggling your perspective.
Pulling your time horizon closer to the present will help you see what’s in front of you and within your actual control. I know few of us feel control over the distant future, but most of us can see what we have control over right now in the present. We can literally envision what we need to do in the next five minutes, hour or even day, but too far into the future gets harder and harder to visualize.
Your enduring stress in college is a massive understatement. Mix together the stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation and required brain power you get a high performing contributor to society. If only that was the case. No amount of espresso, energy drinks or Raising Cane’s sauce can help your final two brain cells study for a New Testament exam.
These tough and stressful moments cannot do anything but help you navigate corporate America or whichever professional field you’re in. The practice and preparation continues to be the most stressful and challenging thing, the game soon becomes a piece of cake.
In gaining perspective and trust over anxiety, you may find it walking to the Luce on enough caffeine to kill a horse at 6:30 in the morning. Others may find it fighting day by day, like the dog looking for its next meal.
Your greatest tool: Fear
Stray dogs go days without food or water, they have nothing. They have no home, but their only will to survive is to fight. I would argue they survive based on one factor. The mortalizing fear of not knowing where they will get their next meal. Fear is how they truly survive on the streets that could swallow them whole.
As the weather turns on Asbury’s campus, the cold air has begun to feel like cold needles in the back of my throat. My wardrobe changed from shorts and athletic shirts to joggers and sweatshirts.
Each weekday morning I walk to the Luce to workout with the rest of the baseball team. The sun has yet to wake up so I walk briskly under the streetlights from Johnson Hall to the top of the hill by the water tower. Oftentimes, the Asbury stocking cap masks the AirPods filling my ears and mind with Metallica, Korn and System of a Down. Regardless of my music, this is the quietest part of my day. The illegal amount of caffeine consumed 15 minutes prior has yet to take effect as I haven’t reached the Luce doors.
This is the part of my day that determines the tone and attitude until my mullet hits my pillow that night. In reality, I am in a state of unknown. I am unsure of what interactions I will be faced with that day. I am unsure if I will face conflict and embarrassment. I am unsure if I will have an opportunity to do a good deed or make someone on campus smile.
Fearing the unknown is actually the best part of my day.
It is that concern and worry that puts these events into a different perspective. I do not know what’s going to happen, so I better make every minute count.
This emotion of fear is the best thing for us, if we look at it the right way.
Stress is a natural response to uncertainty or the unknown. When we are in a new situation or facing confusing circumstances, it is normal to feel worried about what the future may hold for us. These feelings can help us anticipate what is to come and can motivate one’s actions. In small amounts, this stress can be beneficial.
Although when this stress becomes chronic, people may start to see negative effects on mental and physical self well-being. Worrying too much can also cause us to avoid the things we find stressful, which worsens that anxiety.
These are steps that can help utilize stress and fear:
Allowing yourself to catalog what might happen, and how much pain you will feel as a result. Going down this road can lead to sabotaging your efforts in the present. Instead of derailing yourself from future plans and goals while in the present, become concerned with just taking on today.
Pulling your time horizon closer to the present will help you see what’s in front of you and within your actual control. I know few of us feel control over the distant future, but most of us can see what we have control over right now in the present. We can literally envision what we need to do in the next five minutes, hour or even day, but too far into the future gets harder and harder to visualize.
Your enduring stress in college is a massive understatement. Mix together the stress, anxiety, sleep deprivation and required brain power you get a high performing contributor to society. If only that was the case. No amount of espresso, energy drinks or Raising Cane’s sauce can help your final two brain cells study for a New Testament exam.
These tough and stressful moments cannot do anything but help you navigate corporate America or whichever professional field you’re in. The practice and preparation continues to be the most stressful and challenging thing, the game soon becomes a piece of cake.
In gaining perspective and trust over anxiety, you may find it walking to the Luce on enough caffeine to kill a horse at 6:30 in the morning. Others may find it fighting day by day, like the dog looking for its next meal.