“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient”

I’ve always loved this quote by Steve Maraboli, author of ‘Life, the Truth, and Being Free’, but only recently have I come to fully appreciate it.

My whole life I’ve been a worrier. An overthinker. The sort of person who lies awake at night trying to solve the world’s problems instead of sleeping.

A few years back it became clear to me that I suffered from an anxiety disorder that was making my experience of life less enjoyable than it ought to be.

Acutely aware that we only get one chance at this, I decided to tackle my disorder head on with the goal of eradicating anxiety from my life.

After years of meditation, self-care and therapy I managed to slowly improve my relationship with anxiety, but it wasn’t enough, I wanted it gone.

Walking an anxiety tightrope every day was tiring. I felt perpetually frustrated.

My career, however, continued to go from strength to strength.

It’s only recently that something has dawned on me: not only is ridding my life of anxiety unachievable, it’s undesirable.

I’m lucky to work in an environment where feedback is free-flowing, which means I always have a good idea about my strengths and weaknesses in my job.

In a moment of self-reflection, I realized that many of the strengths I’m told I have are because of my anxiety disorder.

On top of that, I’ve come to realize that many successful people I know also wrestle with similar things. I’ve read some amazing mental health stories on LinkedIn over the past week.

Of course, when you really think about it, it makes sense. There are lots of examples of positive leadership characteristics that can be born out of struggles with anxiety. Such as:

1. Having strong empathy – The darkness that anxiety can lead to gives you an overwhelming desire to support and understand others and help them live happy lives

2. A strong work ethic – Not wanting to let yourself or others down is a powerful drive

3. Having high standards – The unrest that anxiety causes means you always want something better and are afraid of mediocrity

4. Being a good communicator – Spending your life wanting people to like you drives you to communicate in an engaging way

5. Being positive – You learn to put on a brave face, even when times are tough and find a way to continue moving forward

Everyone’s mental health journey is personal to them. I’m not for one minute suggesting that you can flick a switch and make anxiety a positive thing in your life.

I am saying though, that I’ve recently become friends with my demons and have started to be more accepting of the bad times and more appreciative of the skills it has taught me.

I’m sure there are plenty of people reading this that have experienced their mental health holding them back at work.

I wanted to write this blog to remind you all that your character and skillset is made up of all sorts of weird and wonderful things you’ve learnt along the way.

Be kind to yourself. Your pesky brain is not all bad.