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One of the top mental health problems in today's world is anxiety. Millions around the world suffer from anxiety on a daily basis, with little hope of a cure.
While it is true that there can be a purely medical solution to alleviate someone's anxious feelings, there are times when other alternatives can be attempted.
St. Francis de Sales provides his thoughts on anxiety in his Introduction to the Devout Life.
Trusting in God
He first explains that anxiety has at its root a praiseworthy aim:
Sadness, when defined, is the mental grief we feel because of our involuntary ailments;—whether the evil be exterior, such as poverty, sickness or contempt; or interior, such as ignorance, dryness, depression or temptation. Directly that the soul is conscious of some such trouble, it is downcast, and so trouble sets in. Then we at once begin to try to get rid of it, and find means to shake it off; and so far rightly enough, for it is natural to us all to desire good, and shun that which we hold to be evil.
It is perfectly fine to want something good. Often we may feel anxiety because of a physical ailment that we have, which prevents us from doing something that we want.
Or we may feel anxiety because we wish that our life was better and we feel alone in this world. Whatever triggered our anxiety, it was likely a good desire.
For St. Francis de Sales, a key to relieving our anxiety is trusting in God:
If any one strives to be delivered from his troubles out of love of God, he will strive patiently, gently, humbly and calmly, looking for deliverance rather to God’s Goodness and Providence than to his own industry or efforts.
This is not to say that we shouldn't seek out medical attention or bring our anxiety to our therapist. However, it does mean that we should include God in the equation and try to rest as calmly as we can in his arms.
St. Francis de Sales provides an example of how relying too much on our own efforts can get us into trouble:
Nevertheless nothing tends so greatly to enhance the one or retard the other as over-eagerness and anxiety. Birds that are captured in nets and snares become inextricably entangled therein, because they flutter and struggle so much. Therefore, whensoever you urgently desire to be delivered from any evil, or to attain some good thing, strive above all else to keep a calm, restful spirit,—steady your judgment and will, and then go quietly and easily after your object, taking all fitting means to attain thereto.
The good news is that God has a plan for us, and while we may not be able to be delivered fully from our anxiety in this life, God has prepared a place for us in the next that will be free from all earthly cares.
We need to cry out to God and give him our anxiety, asking him to do all that he can to cure us. He is the Divine Physician and can calm our weary heart if we are open to it.
