LXXXXII. How to Overcome Anxiety
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.
“Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present.” — Seneca
“O to struggle against great odds, to meet enemies undaunted!To be entirely alone with them, to find how much one can stand!To look strife, torture, prison, popular odium, face to face!To mount the scaffold, to advance to the muzzles of guns with perfect nonchalance!To be indeed a God!” — Walt Whitman
Dear reader, let the anxiety come. Let it tighten your throat, shake your voice, send an electric jolt through your nerves. Let it make your stomach rumble, your palms sweat, your heart hammer like a war drum. Let it do what it will—while you stand stall, confident it cannot break you.
You do not control these attacks. …
