Do you have anxiety?

你焦虑吗？

Have you tried just about everything to get over it, but it just keeps coming back?

你是否尝试过用尽一切办法去克服它，但是它总是反复？

Perhaps you thought you had got over it, only for the symptoms to return with a vengeance¹?

要不是症状卷土重来，你可能认为自己已经熬过去了。

Whatever your circumstances, science can help you to beat anxiety for good.

不管你是什么情况，科学可以帮助你彻底战胜焦虑。

How science can help

科学如何提供帮助

The way you cope or handle things in life has a direct impact on how much anxiety you experience – tweak the way you’re coping, therefore, and you can lower your anxiety levels.

你处理生活琐事的方式对你经历多少焦虑有直接影响——稍稍改进你的处事方式，因此你能降低自己的焦虑水平。

Do you feel like your life is out of control? Do you find it hard to make decisions – or get things started?

你是否感觉生活失控？你是否发现很难做决定——或者开始做事情？

Well, one way to overcome indecision or get going on that new project is to “do it badly”.

克服优柔寡断或者开始新项目，有一个方法就是“不好好做”。

This may sound strange, but the writer and poet GK Chesterton said that: “Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.”

听起来可能怪怪的，但是作家兼诗人G·K·切斯特顿曾说：“任何值得做的事情就算没做好也值得。”

And he had a point. The reason this works so well is that it speeds up your decision-making process and catapults you straight into action.

他有自己的论据。这个理由有作用是因为，它加速了你做决定的过程，刺激你直接采取行动。

Otherwise, you could spend hours deciding how you should do something or what you should do, which can be very time-consuming and stressful.

否则，你可能花好几小时决定你应该怎么做或者你应该做什么，这非常耗时间也很有压力。

People often want to do something “perfectly²” or to wait for the “perfect time” before starting.

人们常常想做事情要完美或者等待开始的“最佳时机”。

But this can lead to procrastination³, long delays or even prevent us from doing it at all. And that causes stress – and anxiety.

但这就导致了拖延、长时间的延期甚至阻止了我们去做这件事情。所有的一切造成了压力——以及焦虑。

Forgive yourself and ‘wait to worry’

原谅自己，等待焦虑

Are you particularly critical of yourself and the blunders you make?

你是否对自己严苛，过分挑剔自己的错误？

Well, imagine if you had a friend who constantly pointed⁴ out everything that was wrong with you and your life. You’d probably want to get rid of them right away.

想象一下，如果你有一个朋友，他不断地指出你的任何错误，那你估计会想要离他远远的。

But people with anxiety often do this to themselves so frequently that they don’t even realize it anymore.

但是焦虑的人经常这么对自己，过于频繁以致他们不再意识到这点。

They’re just not kind to themselves.

焦虑的人并不善待自己。

So perhaps it’s time to change and start forgiving ourselves for the mistakes we make.

所以也许是时候改变一下，开始原谅自己的错误。

If you feel like you’ve embarrassed yourself in a situation, don’t criticize yourself – simply realize that you have this impulse to blame yourself, then drop the negative thought and redirect your attention back to the task at hand or whatever you were doing.

如果你感觉自己出丑了，不要批评自己——只要你意识到想要批评自己的冲动，你应该放弃消极的想法，把你的注意力回到手头任务上或者任何你正在做的事情。

Another effective strategy is to “wait to worry”.

另外的有效策略就是“等待焦虑”。

If something went wrong and you feel compelled to worry (because you think you screwed up), don’t do this immediately. Instead, postpone⁵ your worry – set aside 10 minutes each day during which you can worry about anything.

如果某件事出了错，你不得不去担心（因为你觉得是你搞砸了），不要立即去做。而是延缓你的担忧——每天留出十分钟，你可以去担心任何事情。

Find purpose in life by helping⁶ others

帮助别人，发现生活目标

It’s also worth considering how much of your day is spent with someone else in mind?

同样值得的是，去思考你的一天有多少时间和心里的人一起度过。

If it’s very little or none at all, then you’re at a high risk of poor mental health.

如果时间很少甚至没有，那你很有可能有糟糕的心理健康状况。

Regardless of how much we work or the amount of money we make, we can’t be truly happy until we know that someone else needs us and depends on our productivity or love.

不要管我们做了多少工资或者赚了多少钱，如果我们不知道别人需要我们，依赖着我们的能力或者爱，我们就不会真正地快乐。

Knowing that someone else needs you makes it easier to endure the toughest times.

知道被人需要，可以使艰难的日子好过一些。

You’ll know the “why” for your existence and will be able to bear almost any “how”.

你会懂得“为何”而活，你也可以承受几乎所有的痛苦。