Hi Brandon,

First of all – have you ever considered talking to a therapist about this? I used to struggle with major anxiety issues (and, to some extent, I still do) and after several years I found a very sweet therapist who was able to give me some great tools to handle my anxiety.

You mention your mind wandering “like a runaway train” which sounds VERY familiar 😉 I’ve been there! And one of the greatest tricks I learned back then is this: start thinking of your thoughts as cars zipping past on a busy highway while you stand on the shoulder. You don’t have to attach yourself to every single one. Our minds are inherently busy places and learning to observe our thoughts as they appear and as they pass ultimately leads us to a greater peace of mind. The motive isn’t to stop having these thoughts entirely, only to stop getting drug around by them, which is what we achieve when we learn to let them go. I found this particularly helpful when working through a time of immense anger in my life. Every single day, I would find myself being drug off by feelings of resentment, anger, hurt and indignation and every single day, for months, I let these feelings land me in a really uncomfortable emotional place. When I finally learned to see them and then let them go I was able to experience those same feelings of anger but, instead of getting all indignant and upset, I could simply say “I feel angry”, accept it for what it was, and then let it go.

I think the same might help you when you feel anxious. Please keep us posted on your progress and all my best to you.

Ashley