Being Anxious

Every morning on my way to work, I see how some people drive on the streets and most times I’m like, if I drive, I will just be slowing down anyhow and I might just cause an accident. Even before I reached the age of driving, I’ve always been scared of driving. It’s amazing how people could manoeuvre through tight corners (shout out to my mom, best driver I know).

Few months ago, a friend of mine wanted to teach my brothers and me how to drive. My brothers were excited and as for me, not so much. The day came and my friend brought a car with manual transmission. My brothers wanted to go first and I happily allowed them. My friend took them through the basics and they were finally allowed to move the car. While they were driving, I was just shouting, I thought we would hit someone. At a point, I confused one of them because of how I screamed and he almost hit someone. They did well for a first time though. Eventually, it came to my turn and it was getting late. Everyone was like, move to the driver’s seat naw and let him (my friend) take you through so you can move the car. In all sincerity, I was so scared. I just didn’t want to try and so I told them it’s getting late and we should go home. They all said I was afraid to try and they were practically begging me to drive. I told them I wasn’t and that the next time, I’ll go first. The next time never came as our schedules were not working for each other. I was kind of relieved though.

Reflecting on my fear of driving, I know it’s probably not going to be a big deal as I would start driving like my friends have. All these made me think of things in my life that I was scared to do but eventually did and saw it wasn’t as much as a big deal the way I allowed my mind think.

I remembered how in SS2 I was so scared of writing WAEC and JAMB (both are exams you take that qualify you for university). Even when I got to SS3 (senior secondary class 3, it’s the final class in high school), the fear increased. I thought WAEC was a very difficult thing that determined life and death. I remember not wanting to enter SS3 as it was one step closer to WAEC and JAMB. However, JAMB came and I wrote it, WAEC came and I wrote it, and I did well. It wasn’t a big deal after all, I had crossed that bridge, and I had climbed that mountain.

Then came final year project. Just like I was scared of WAEC, I was scared to do a project. I always wished then that I could replace my project work for a course work. I heard a lot of things about projects, how one had to do a lot of research, your supervisor turning you here and there for corrections, additions and subtractions. Let’s not forget defence, both proposal and thesis defence.  I got into final year and of course, it wasn’t easy with the project but in all, I scaled through.

Other situations are when I thought a course had so much in it that I couldn’t understand and eventually, I wrote the exam and all that anxiety was gone, or when I am presenting something to a crowd and I think I’m going to flop but then I mount the podium and feel relaxed after a few minutes.

Related: Peace Beyond Human Understanding

All these are anxieties. We feel anxious when certain situations are presented and sometimes we over analyse it in our head making it look like a big deal. The truth is, most times, if not all the time, it’s not that big of a deal, we just have to relax and ask God to hold our hands as we go through whatever it is we are faced with. As for driving, I’m pretty sure that I will overcome that. I’m going to end with this scripture that happens to be one of my best scriptures.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4: 6-7

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Are there times in your life where you were anxious about something and it turned out not to be as bad? What are your thoughts?