Not Really an Anxiety Tip.
Faith gives you an inner strength and a sense of balance and perspective in life.
Gregory Peck
This morning I received an email from a good friend telling me about friends of his who just found out their 14 year old son has 5 malignant tumors (bone cancer).
The diagnosis isn’t good.
They are people of faith and are praying for a miracle.
While reading the blog the family is keeping about Jordan’s journey I was amazed at the courage, optimism and attitude of this young man.
While in the hospital Jordan learned of his one year old neighbor, Lilee Jean, in the next hospital room over who has an inoperable brain tumor and his response is to ask the people around him to pray for her.
Even in his own need he has the awareness and capacity to care for another.
I began writing this post with no end-game in mind…
I am a father of 2 sons, the oldest will be 14 in April so this news really hit me hard and I wanted to vent a bit and thought I’d share it with you.
As I write though I am realizing there are a few really strong anxiety tips in here…
- Perspective… it’s easy to worry about little things but when we see them compared to the “big things” out there… our little things don’t seem worth worrying about anymore. Think of these 2 families today and gain some perspective in your own life.
- Bigger than us… as much as we all (including myself) think we are super heroes and can take on the world single handedly… well… we… just simply… CAN’T. There are going to be situations, problems and circumstances that are bigger than us and we will need help. For our own peace of mind we need to be willing to reach out to family, friends, support groups, social programs and God.
- Gratitude… similar to the “perspective” point above, when we take the time to see how much we have to be thankful for it makes it easier to stop being so afraid and complaining so much.
- Other people’s problems… Just as Jordan did with Lilee Jean, when we take our focus off our own problems and care for someone else, we are filled with compassion, grace and love which makes it impossible for anxiety to continue occupying our mind and heart.
Bottom line though… this post is written for Jordan, Lilee Jean and their families. Let’s keep them in our hearts and prayers.
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