I can’t think of anyone who could possibly be more qualified to write a little piece on the downsides of anxiety. I don’t want to brag, but I stay panic attackin’ on the regular. Pretty sure I got it from my mama. My advice to anyone who suffers the same annoying fate as I, is this: Stay busy. Like Thomas Edison said, “As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey,” and that man invented the light bulb! Most anxieties stem from fears of inadequacy, so keep working on whatever you do and become the master of it. Think of it this way, those sedate, contented coworkers don’t have that compulsive mental energy that you do.. Harness it and make it work for you! Besides those of us with anxiety disorders tend to be more intelligent than those who do not. Fair price to pay for our big beautiful brains. Read these quotes and take solace in the fact that some of humankind’s greatest thinkers were also big old worry warts just like you.

For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe.”
-Author Unknown

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
– James Allen

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”– Marcus Aurelius

Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment.”
-J. Donald Walters

Some men storm imaginary Alps all their lives, and die in the foothills cursing difficulties which do not exist.”-Edgar Watson Howe

That the birds of worry and care fly over you head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” -Chinese Proverb

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” -Mark Twain

Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday.”-Author Unknown

If things go wrong, don’t go with them.” -Roger Babson

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.” -Dale Carnegie

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” -Elbert Hubbard

I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” -Samuel Clemens

Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” -Robert Eliot

They need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won’t be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it, which is, you see, unhappiness, and all the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them to no end.” -Jack Kerouak

I’ve developed a new philosophy… I only dread one day at a time.”
-Charlie Brown (Charles Schulz)