Driving Away From Anxiety By Letting Go of Control of Others

Special thanks to the guy this morning in his F-150 for giving me the inspiration to write this article. 

Have you ever been in traffic and looked in your rearview mirror and see the car behind you so close to your bumper that you can’t even see their headlights? Do you feel the pressure to move out of their way to avoid them being angry with you? Does your mind start to wonder why they are so close? Do you feel obligated to move out of their way because maybe somehow your wrong for going the speed limit?

Do you feel the heat pick up all over your body? Do you feel the sweat roll down your back? How about that knot in your throat and chest? I know how it feels and it absolutely sucks! I know because I’ve had this feeling not just today but for many years. It’s that anxious feeling that you want to obliterate but it keeps coming back like the Terminator. Well today the Terminator called anxiety will meet its destroyer and its name is “Letting Go.”

Anxiety is centered on the approval of others about something that may or may not have or happened already. I call this playing movies in your own head. Guess what, the person behind you riding your tail or the people who stare at you, YOU CANNOT CONTROL THEM! The truth is you cannot control anything outside of you. You cannot control the guy behind your car. He may be having a bad day, had a fight with his wife, maybe having trouble at his job, or more. Overall, there are endless possibilities for why this person is executing road rage. You can only control your speed, alertness, and focus because you are in the driver seat, no one else.

By giving away control and responsibility back to others, this frees you from the concern of others. Recognize that these people are adults, have their own lives, make their own decisions and their plans rarely include you. Recognize these are random people on the road, in the restaurant, on the bus or metro, at a club, wherever! Do you think these people that are so concerned about how you’re dressed, who you date or love, how you talk will ever support you? They don’t even know you and you don’t even know them. For people who are so overly concerned about you is their problem and they are solely responsible for it. They have the ability to control and direct their own lives; YOU. CAN NOT. DO. THIS. AT. ALL.

Life is a vehicle and it zooms by so quickly and honestly, how much time and attention do you want to give to others before you give to yourself? Why choose to put other random people’s opinions of you before your own opinion about you? Who are these random people you need approval from? Why should they get a say in how you live your life? Once again, these are random people in this vast universe.

The solution is to let go. Let go of trying to control other people’s opinions of you. Let go of the worry; the worries of what these random people are going to say and think. Grab a hold of the steering wheel of your life and race off towards your goals, your vision, and your mission in life. This is YOUR responsibility and no one has a say in that. There are no back seat drivers on this journey because where you’re going you don’t need ’em.

WIN THE DAY.  QUIT ON EXCUSES AND FAILURE. IMPRESS YOUR DAMN SELF.