 Hey everyone, it's Isaac and I'm here to let you know that I actually started a Kickstarter for my new book and film. I'm super excited about it. I want you to go check it out right now in the link in my description here saying there's awesome rewards. The book and the film is about building father-son relationships and even if you're not a father or a son, I think this is something really important to get involved with and encourage and support. So yeah, I'm super excited about the project and I'd love it no matter who you are, get involved. Okay, I'll see you there. Hey guys, welcome back to the Daily Disciple channel. My name is Isaac and today I'm going to be talking about three ways to deal with and overcome anxiety. Now if you've been around this channel for any length of time really, you know that I've struggled with anxiety over the course of my life and because of this I've had to do some introspection, really evaluating why is this happening? Okay, how do I deal with this? How do I overcome this anxiety that seems to plague me so often? And because of that I've done some introspection and I've done some reading on the topic and I've been getting a lot of questions from you guys and hey, how do you deal with anxiety? How do you deal with panic attacks? How do you deal with this when you get super overwhelmed? And so this is just maybe a more practical approach at how to deal with those things. Obviously the theology is an important approach to take. We need to analyze, yeah, it's a hard issue when we talk about anxiety. It is, yeah, and we need to be able to take that approach and say, hey, look, identify the lies that you're believing. Identify maybe the different causes of a disoriented perspective that is causing you to be anxious. But also I want to give you some practical things to do. These are some of the things that helped me and obviously we want to address the heart issue and part of what these things are that I'm going to suggest you are really beneficial in reorienting your perspective on Jesus. It's not about distracting yourself necessarily. It's about, hey, how can we see this situation for how God sees it? How can I see my life for how God sees it? And so these are just some of the things. Hey, how do we deal with anxiety? How do we deal with it in a healthy way and a biblical way? These are some practical things that we can do. So let's jump into it. Okay, so the first one is relational prayer with God. Now I wanted to add this piece of relational prayer because we often pray and I know I do. When you're dealing with anxiety, you go straight to God, please take this anxiety away from me. Take it away. I don't like it. Take it away. And that's an important, you know, I'm not knocking that. But what I'm saying is, is that there's another piece to it. It's not about just treating God like a vending machine, like he has to do everything for us. But it's about treating God and actually honing in on that relationship with him. So relational prayer is less of, God give me this, God give me that, God help me with this, God help me with that. But it's more of a honest conversation where we can authentically approach God from where we are, being honest with him and going from there. As opposed to saying, help God, give me this right now. Give it to me. I need it. We say, hey God, this is where I am. I want to hear from you. Remind me of your truth. Remind me of your grace. Remind me, reorient my perspective on you. So this kind of relational prayer takes trust because sometimes we don't, a lot of the times we're not going to feel like, you know, it's, wait, is God there? Is God listening to me? This seems like a one-way conversation. It seems like a one-way relationship. But it takes trust knowing that even though we don't feel like God is near, even when we don't feel like God is with us, he is, he will never leave us or forsake us. God is with us. He is bearing our burdens just as we pray relationally to him. That's something important to keep in mind and it helps me a lot. So the second tip or practical thing that you can do to help overcome and deal with anxiety is unplug and journal. Now this has been really helpful for me. I think technology has been really beneficial in a lot of ways. Number one, I'm able to talk to you guys. It's beautiful, but it also can become a really, a really prominent force in our lives that often causes us to lose perspective. It causes us to, you know, feel a little bit more worried, makes us a little bit more anxious, a little bit overwhelmed, the busyness, the distractions. You know, you're seeing everyone's lives all in split seconds. It can become too much. So that's why I say, you know, unplug. Unplug from social media and take a break. Take a break, but not don't just take a break, but replace it with something beneficial. And I think for me, and I think you'll benefit from it as well, is journaling. Now I'm not asking you to write a beautiful, you know, poem or essay, or maybe you very well might be able to do that. For me, it simply is sitting down and writing out whatever is on my mind. And often that turns out to a very rambly poem or a very rambly, you know, prayer to God. And that's it. That's all it is. And it's just getting that those feelings out of stress and anxiety, getting those on a piece of paper that you could do. You could just write out lists. I often write out lists. If you're stressed about something, unplug and write out lists of, of, hey, maybe it's something you need to get done today. You know, it's a to-do list or it's things you, things are the big things that are coming up in the future. So just being able to get this stuff out on paper, I think is really beneficial in helping to overcome anxiety and really take our, take our minds off of the things we have to do with things that are stressing us out and put our eyes back on Jesus. Part of unplugging and, you know, journaling, I think you could also, you know, just pick up the scriptures. If reading helps you kind of reorient your mind and perspective on God, I think that's wonderful and I think you should definitely do that. And, you know, God's word does not return void. And when we're reading his scriptures, his truth is pouring into us and that can only help us and refix our eyes on Jesus. So I definitely, definitely recommend that you do that. Unplug, journal, read the Bible, read other things, other literature that are going to spur you on to looking at Jesus and seeing the world rightly as God sees it. Okay, so this is the last tip that I have for you is escape isolation. So when you are experiencing anxiety, yeah, I definitely recommend, you know, relational prayer with God. Pray to God, pray to God. And I also recommend unplug, journal, read the Bible. After you do those things, I want you to escape isolation. Do not stay on your own. Do not stay, stay by yourself. Too often we can stay in this state of anxiousness and worry and despair and just in a bad mood and when we're by ourselves, nothing good can come from that. So that's why I really want to encourage you. After you do those other things, you know, maybe this is step number one. That's fine. But if you do those other things, don't just, okay, well, you know what? You know, just stay in this state of anxiousness. Talk to somebody. You know, it could be online. It could be texting someone. That's fine. But be able to have that conversation with somebody. And I do recommend, you know, hey, calling up a friend. Hey, do you want to go out for coffee? Do you want to, you know, hang out or something like that. And just being able to connect in that way with people, I think is really, really important as you seek to deal and overcome anxiety because oftentimes other people can give you a perspective, a beneficial perspective on things that you maybe are worried about or stressed about. I know there's been many times where maybe I've been just stressed or overwhelmed with something, maybe a project. And when I talk to somebody else about it, they don't seem nearly as stressed about it. In fact, they seem confident in not only my ability to get it done, but also in God's ability to help me do it. And that confidence and that trust that they display kind of reverberates into me. And I kind of reflect that as well. And now I'm actually excited and I'm less stressed and I'm less anxious. So I think it is really important to escape isolation. But pick those wisely who you hang out with. If you're hanging out with someone that you know is just going to, is not going to give you a good perspective. Maybe they actually enhance your stress or anxiety. Don't hang out with those people. That's just general wisdom. But find those people that can encourage you and spur you on into looking at Jesus and confidently entering the places that Jesus has called you to. Regardless of the fear or anxiety that may be in the midst, you can continue on and do what God has called you to do. And there's a lot of people out there that want to help you do that. So get plugged in with those people, escape isolation and deal with and overcome anxiety. Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed today's video. I hope it was beneficial to you because I know when I've been struggling with anxiety and dealing with it, videos like these have really helped me. So I hope that does the same thing for you. If you have other ways that you deal with anxiety, worry stress, leave them in the comments. I'd love to see them and just for my own personal benefit, but also for the other people that are in the comments down below. If you like this video, give it a like and subscribe if you want to see more videos like this in the future. Thanks so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time. Bye guys.