Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Health, Fitness and Religion
Lessons Learned on the Journey of Being Anxious

Lessons Learned on the Journey of Being Anxious

Last updated on: November 11, 2026 at 9:37 am by Mark Wilson

0 Comments

Lessons Learned on the Journey of Being Anxious 2026-11-11T09:37:46-05:00 Mark Wilson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My journey of being anxious has helped me to learn certain lessons about life and has inspired and caused me to do certain things.

It has inspired me to have a more focused prayer life.
It has inspired me to intercede personally more for individuals.
It has inspired me to reach out to let others know they are appreciated.
It reminds me that sometimes we need the support of Family and Friends.
It has caused me to seek out counseling and buy my friends book on anxiety.
It caused my appetite to go down, and I may have lost some weight because of it.
It has helped me realize my own mortality and the fact I am getting older.
It has been the inspiration for some of my most recent blog posts.
It is looking like it will be a long journey.

My main take away of why I am experiencing anxiety in this stage of my life and why God is allowing it right now has been clarified by my closet friend Marshall, who was the best man at my wedding. He said this to me…

Perhaps through this journey of being anxious, a question might be asked,

“Is the Lord calling me to a deeper trust and conversion? “

I am at a day of reflection, and I thought about that for your situation. I could ask the same of myself.
-Marshall Myers

I can’t help but think that this is true given all that I have been experiencing and feeling lately. When I told this to Fr. Wilson at Immaculate Conception Church he couldn’t help but agree. I must have prayed that I would grow deeper in faith or someone else prayed it for me. Anyway, God calling me to a deeper trust and conversion only makes sense and is totally within God’s public revelation of what he wants for each of His children.

I’m now going to expand on each of the lessons learned.

More Focused Praying

My prayer life has always been sporadic and up and down. For the last month or so it has been more focused. I seem to have more attention when I pray. I have taken more prayer walks around my neighborhood with my rosary in hand contemplating the mysteries of Christ interceding for some intention or another

The rosary takes concentration and that can be hard to pray sometimes. I do try to pray it more often but don’t always succeed. Evaluating my prayer life can be hard as my mood changes how I pray, but reaching out to God has not. I give Him my fears, hopes and anxiety. I sleep with my crucifix with me at night, clinging to the symbol of hope and being reminded of who saves me.

Here is a prayer for those suffering anxiety and fear.

Prayer to St. Dymphna for Depression and Anxiety

O Saint Dymphna, gentle patron
of those who suffer in mind and heart,
look upon me in my distress and fear.

Intercede for me before our loving God
that He may calm my anxieties
thoughts and heal my wounded spirit.

Obtain for me peace in moments
of darkness, strength in times
of weakness, and hope when
I feel overwhelmed.

Help me trust that I am never
Alone for God walks with me
even in my deepest struggles.

Saint Dympha,
Pray For Me,

That I may find rest Healing
and reneyed joy in the Lord.

Amen.

Catholic Women’s Group
Poster based in Canada 2͏1͏h͏

More Prayers- Prayer to St. Dymphna for Anxiety | Find A Prayer

More Intercessory Prayer

As I scroll through Facebook and listen to others, I see and hear their sorrows and troubles. It breaks my heart that I can’t help them all. I wonder how much I can or should do. I hear the parables of the final judgement and get concerned for the salvation of those I love. One conversation I had with my sister illustrates this concern.

Mark: So why did you stop going to church?
Sister: Mark, don’t try to change me.

I asked Fr. Wilson what if I don’t make enough sacrifices for them and their lost? I’m rather concerned for those I love and have hope that they will be able to His response was

“Remember you’re not in control. You’re not the savior. Pray your rosary for them and remember what Padre Pio said to Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry. Jesus loves them more than you. and wants them saved. You never know what graces someone has and how God is working in their lives by you praying for them.”

Bumper Magnet on Catholic Bard’s Car

This is a man who has his own family members who haven’t baptized their kids and don’t bring them to church. He is saying this with concern for his own family and having Trust in Christ. He understands that he can’t choose Jesus for anyone else but himself and that prayer opens up more graces for people. A co-worker at St. Elizabeth’s also reminded me that I’m not Jesus.

Me: Lord, I’m so dead tired and overwhelmed.
Jesus: Then stop trying to do my job.

Being concerned for the salvation of others and remaining calm about it is tough but with the grace of Christ it can be accomplished. Here are some quotes that reinforce this idea.

“I desire that you know more profoundly the love that burns in My Heart for souls, and you will understand this when you meditate upon My Passion. Call upon My mercy on behalf of sinners; I desire their salvation. When you say this prayer, with a contrite heart and with faith on behalf of some sinner, I will give him the grace of conversion. This is the prayer: ‘O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of Mercy for us, I trust in You.’ ”
—Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska, 186-187

Jesus wants to save your lost loved ones and also wants to save you.

We may not have a ton of influence in the political spectrum, but we can all do is pray the rosary. That victory at Leontto was the fruit of like faithful Christians who could not fight in the battle, praying the rosary. And so if you want a victory for yourself, if you want victory for the world, if you want victory for a loved one who has gone astray and you feel powerless because you can’t change them, you can’t influence them, you can’t control them, you can pray for them. You can pray for them. And again, prayer and prayer of the rosary has already changed the trajectory of the entire world.
– Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR |How the Rosary Fights for Your Mind |24 minutes, 27 seconds SEEK26 FOCUS Catholic

Letting Others Know They Are Appreciated

Ever since I have started feeling anxious, I have been letting others know that I appreciate them. Family members, longtime friends, co-workers, acquaintances and strangers. Just telling someone you appreciate them does wonders and people appreciate you appreciating them. I had one lady I just meet after telling her this say to me, “I have to hug you now”. Just this little simple act of kindness brightens people’s days and lets them know they are loved and that they matter. Cause everyone matters as we are made in the image and likeness of God.

Sending love to anyone battling depression.
You are not a burden.
You matter, and you will get through this.

I’m rooting for you!

Sometimes we need the support of Family and Friends.

In my Men of St. Joseph prayer group there is a time when we sit at a table and go around the room and share our intentions of what we want to pray for. When it came to my turn, I shared with shakiness and tears, my struggle with anxiety. A fellow brother came over and just held me in a loving secure hug. I needed that.

I went to visit an old friend, Joe Schuster, that I’ve known since the late 90’s. We meet about a half hour away from my house. As I got to Cumberland R.I. traveling from Cranston R.I. my car’s transmission died. We had to wait over 2 and a half hours for a tow truck to come and fetch my broken car. Relaying on A.I. text messaging instead of a real human being is what made it last so long. Anyway my friend Joe stayed with Kristin and I till the tow truck was on it’s way and gave us a ride home. He was a true blue friend who sacrificed his time to make sure we were O.K.

My in-laws loaned us a car of theirs so I could get back and forth to work until I figure out the next step in my car saga.

Sometimes you need a hug. Sometimes you need the support of friends and family to help you along. I pray for those who don’t have that as I pray for all people who are alone and scared.

Here are a few more examples of people supporting others.

Jude Baker, a 14-year-old from Summerville, Georgia, used his Make-A-Wish grant to organize sleeping bags, backpacks of supplies and hot meals for more than 300 people experiencing homelessness, rather than requesting a trip or a celebrity meeting for himself.
It’s A Guy Thing

Three schoolboys — aged just 12, 13, and 14, saved a suicidal man’s life.While walking home in Waltham Cross, they spotted a stranger in distress attempting to jump from an overpass.

Instead of freezing or walking away, they took immediate action.

Devonte and Sammy grabbed the man and absolutely refused to let him go.

Shawn sprinted toward the traffic, flagging down passing motorists to get adult help to hold the man’s weight until emergency services finally arrived.

When asked about it later, Devonte simply said: “We could not have lived with ourselves if we had kept walking.”
The Pulse Rodeo

I Bought my middle-school friends’ book on anxiety.

Kristin and I are slowly reading this book together and answering the questions posed at the end of each chapter. Here is a sample of something we read that stood out to me.

Imagination is not the enemy though. It is actually a gift. One of the most powerful ones we have been given. When it partners with fear, it fuels anxiety. When it partners with faith, it becomes a bridge to peace and much more.

Imagination is not childish. It is sacred. It is the space bethween what is and what could be and we get to decie whom we invite into that space.

What you picture, you start to belive. What you belive you begin to live and what you live becomes the atomosphere others exerience when they are around you.

You don’t need to fix everything right now.

Gabe Andreason – Unanxious Chapter 7: Reclaiming Your imagination
Read his interview here.

Possible Weight Loss

There has been a decrease in my appetite, and I think I have may lost weight. Which is a good thing but not a planned thing. I haven’t documented this as well as I should. I think I may have lost around 10 pounds. The scale I used to measure my weight at first wasn’t working right and even though I think I have been eating less, I’m not sure of all the specifics. I do know that I have been less hungry overall, which is why I mention it here.

Realizing my own morality.

I’m 55 as I write this. A few summers ago I went to a waterpark. I used to love waterparks. I started to get a tad of motion sickness going on the slides. I visited some friends over the summer and tried jumping on my friend’s kid’s trampoline. I got winded and so tired. I can’t do the same things I used to do when I was younger. I’m getting older. I look at the folks at the nursing home and think that will be me if I live long enough.

I’ve had friends and classmates who have died. The same group of people I used to hang out with all the time, I see occasionally. They don’t hang out with the same people they hung out with. Times really do change.

Think about this.

On November 5, 2026 was the anniversary of when Marty McFly went back to 1955 in the time-traveling Delorian. That date is now 71 years ago from 2026.

Back To The Future Is Now Further In The Past Than The End Of WWII Was When It Came Out

When Back to the Future hit theaters on July 3, 1985, the end of World War II was just under 40 years in the past. Today, the movie itself is more than 41 years old—meaning 1985 is now farther behind us than 1945 was for audiences watching Marty McFly travel back to 1955. Time travel really does hit differently now. Did You Catch This? – The Future · Alan Silvestri·

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’
Into the future

Fly Like an Eagle – Steve Miller Band

Time keeps moving on till it’s gone.

Gone, like Frank Sinatra
Like Elvis and his mom
Like Al Pacino’s cash nothing lasts in this life
My high school dreams are gone
My childhood sweets are gone
Life is a day that doesn’t last for long

Gone –Switchfoot

Here’s one more piece of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey trivia.

Seventy years ago (from November 3, 2026) on November 3, 1956, CBS put The Wizard of Oz on television for the very first time. Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion himself, hosted the broadcast, and sitting next to him was a 10-year-old Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland’s daughter.

The movie was already seventeen years old, and an estimated 45 million people watched it that night, nearly a third of the country back then. A two-hour film that had lived in movie theaters was suddenly playing in the living room, for free.

It didn’t come back right away, but once it did, it kept coming back for decades. Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow became something you waited all year to see on TV. Nostalmania TV /Days Gone Disney

Sesame Street premiered on TV on November 10, 1969.
Home Alone premiered on November 10, 1990.

Recent Blog Posts on Anxiety

I Want To Live And Die As A Catholic
A Reflection On Loss And Catholic Death.

Joy And Hope In My Anxiety

Thoughts And Prayers For Peace Of Mind And Soul
A Collection Of Quotes About Peace Of Soul With God

It is looking like it will be a long journey.

As I write this I have had some therapy. I have had priests pray over me and have asked other people to pray for me. I get scared and nervous and want to hide away from the world and at the same time embrace it. It’s a journey. Not sure where it will end. I keep this question and thought in mind that I shared at the beginning of this article.

Perhaps through this journey of being anxious, a question might be asked,

“Is the Lord calling me to a deeper trust and conversion? “

I’m sure as I go along I will learn more things, be invited to trust more, find new prayers and thoughts to share, and reach out to people I haven’t to yet. I’m not done with the journey. I walk along the road with God and my brothers and sisters and hope to help others who are struggling also.

Final Thoughts

When I die I want to die like this young girl did at 16 from Cancer. I have asked her to pray for me lately after hearing this homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz. It’s given me some peace. Her name is Mallerie and her story is inspiring. It made me cry. Her prayer to God was this…

“God, please heal me so people can see how I live and they’ll love you.”

And this is a prayer of a 15-year-old girl.

God, heal me so people can see how I live and they’ll love you. But then her second part of her prayer was also this.

God, if you don’t heal me, let people see how I die and they’ll love you. Imagine being letting that be your prayer.

Imagine knowing Jesus well enough to be able to say, “God, heal me because then people will see how I live and they’ll glorify you and love you.” Or, “God, heal me.” Or, “Don’t if you don’t heal me, let people see how I die and they will love you and glorify you.”

Indeed. Praise God for the god days and bless his name for the bad ones. If the bad ones brought you humility, wisdom, kindness, love, peace and miracles, they too are a gift.

PADRE pio

General Christian

Health, Fitness and Religion

Previous Post

November 6, 2026

7 Ways God Communicates With Us

What does "Gethsemane" mean in Aramaic?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Olive press Holy ground House of God Place of rest

Books by This Author Books by Catholic Bard

See All Titles »