Real talk time. Anxiety is no joke, and it’s more common than you may think. It’s also nothing to be ashamed of. Whether we experience everyday stresses, or out-of-the-ordinary anxiety, we can all get worn down in life and each have different limits. The thing is, we were never supposed to get scared or worry about stuff; it’s not what God intended and, ultimately, not what He’s about. That can be difficult to really get into our heads though, can’t it? We can’t physically see Him or chat to Him in the same way that we’re used to talking to physically-on-earth people. It can be pretty easy to separate our very concrete, sometimes small-seeming, panics from our idea of what the God of the universe is interested in. We can think ‘well, He’s not the one facing ever-nearing deadlines and struggling to pay for phone bills and bus passes’. But actually… our God gets it. Jesus, being both God and man, understands the ‘real world’ pressures with first-hand experience. That’s (one aspect of) the gorgeousness of the whole ‘incarnation’ plan. Jesus walks this with us. He’s done it Himself. And He says, ‘Do not be anxious about your life…’ (Matthew 6:25, ESV). In fact, go away and read the rest of that Bible chapter, because it’s got some massively reassuring promises that God has your back, no matter how bad things seem to get. He’s got no plans to leave us by ourselves.

What now?
Find someone you trust, someone you can be vulnerable around and tell them what you’re worrying about right now. Get them to ask lots of questions, to help you process it all.