Process and Discipline for Anxiety

I need to start with an analogy. There are things that do not change with time; the process may change, but never the logic. Since the beginning of time, if a man or woman was hungry and wanted an apple, they had two options: offer something of value to exchange for the apple, or grow the apple themselves. It is clear that nowadays, with modern money, credit cards, and cryptocurrency, we often ignore the logic of growing a plant because we no longer see the labor behind it. But the logic has remained exactly the same. It is just that a farmer, or a large company that owns the land, uses advanced agricultural machinery, acquires the seeds, and provides all that is needed to plant the seed. They take care of it, grow the plant, wait for the harvest, and then place it for sale in a market or supermarket where we simply go and buy it.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
— Genesis 8:22

“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
— Epictetus

“In nature, nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, but everything is transformed through the strict application of energy over time.”
— Antoine Lavoisier (Chemist)

The important part here is that the underlying logic has not changed: the seed must be planted in fertile soil, and the plant must be watered, nurtured, and protected until harvest. And that right there is where we humans are getting lost, ignoring the process. Here is something most of us do not see: when God created the universe, together with it, He created the universal natural laws: gravity, physics, mathematics, biology, anatomy, chemistry, etc.. And, of course, He created men and women with a brain capable of learning and understanding, so they might know how to use the laws established by God in nature in their favor.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”
— Romans 1:20.

“To live in agreement with nature is the defining purpose of a human being.”
— Zeno of Citium

“The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.”
— Isaac Newton (Physicist and Mathematician)

A very important fact to mention—a fact that only the wise and humble understand and use to grow, becoming fruitful and productive—is that humans have not actually created anything. Nobody created the law of gravity, nobody created the laws of physics, and nobody created the laws of thermodynamics nor any other law in nature. We merely studied and analyzed what already existed in our environment and understood it. That understanding, as it should be, is attributed to brilliant minds like Newton, Einstein, Edison, and Charles Darwin, who used their time and God-given intellect to define how nature works. If we can humbly accept that they did not invent these laws, but simply understood how things exist and function in nature, then we have taken the best first step ever toward true wisdom.

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
— Proverbs 25:2

“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”
— Immanuel Kant

“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore… whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
— Isaac Newton (Physicist and Mathematician)

Process and Discipline for Anxiety… We live a life that, with no exception, has an end; we all die. Even as it is scientifically proven, for those who did not have the chance to go far in education, who neglect this fact, or who never seek knowledge, just look around and ask: how many people over 110 years of age do you know alive at this moment? Whether we like it or not, nobody has broken that rule, ever—except for Jesus Christ, as it is clear to those who know God. That leaves it very clear that life ends, and our time is strictly limited. Yet, many of us live day by day trying to find a shortcut, looking for how to bypass necessary processes. We look for “hacks” that are entirely illogical. We look at someone on a social media feed doing things that seem like the secret to success, claiming a way to progress with hacks and shortcuts in only days or months. That deception is our cancer, and most of the time, it is a complete lie. Most of those profiles are staged, and most of the time, the one looking for an easy answer… the follower then becomes the product. To overcome the profound anxiety this causes, we must stop looking for illusions and anchor ourselves back into the reality of hard work and genuine processes.

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.”
— Seneca

“The Hayflick limit dictates the absolute finite number of times a normal human cell population will divide before cell division stops, proving that biological mortality is hardwired into our cellular structure.”
— Dr. Leonard Hayflick (Anatomist)

Here is something that seems harsh to assimilate: God limited humans so they never forget that they are not the Creator. Men and women live a life, acquire things, and experience what God allows them to have based on their quality and discipline as individuals. Let us not ignore the bad people making “easy money” or “fast money” at the cost of other people’s lives or the destruction of society… They do not live too long, and ultimately, both the good and the evil will face death and eternal judgment. If we are humble enough to understand the universal laws of nature—that we are only allowed to transform what God provided, and that we will physically die—then we are ready to move forward and live a life truly worth living. Keep in mind that God has limited humans with Space, Time, and Resources, because evil humans could do unlimited damage if it was not this way; it is easy to see how far bad people go even when these three things are heavily restricted. When dealing with the pain, challenges, and injustice of this world, find peace and a path forward in the fact that God’s boundaries are perfect, and operating humbly within them is our ultimate protection.

“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked; for there will be no prospect for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.”
— Proverbs 24:19-20

“Freedom is secured not by the fulfilling of men’s desires, but by the removal of desire.”
— Epictetus

“The principle of conservation of mass and energy dictates that resources in a closed system are finite; nothing can be infinitely consumed without inevitable depletion.”
— Albert Einstein (Theoretical Physicist)

Here is a quote to never forget:

“A man who plants a tree knowing he will never sit under its shade, has begun to understand life.”

So, why embrace process and discipline to cure anxiety? Because understanding and learning is a rigorous process and a discipline, kept only by the wise and the productive. I definitely see clearly the truth in the phrase: “Those who live to serve, deserve to live.” If we want an apple, and we put ourselves to the task of finding the seed and the land with fertile soil; if, with a healthy heart, we acquire the tools to plant it so we can produce apples not only for ourselves but also for those who surround us, then we are truly playing the game of life correctly. We are using the laws of nature for good. Together with that, we need to accept the process and practice intense patience and care. Keeping a plant alive is not easy; it takes weeks, months—the required time for you to finally go to that tree and pick that first apple in your plantation with your very own hand. When you hold that apple, the one you made happen with patience and hard work, you will finally know its true value, and your anxiety will be permanently replaced by purpose.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
— Galatians 6:9

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”
— Aristotle

“Delayed gratification, mediated by the prefrontal cortex, is the most accurate psychological predictor of long-term human success and emotional regulation.”
— Dr. Walter Mischel (Psychologist)

An important thing to change in our minds is to see clearly what we do not need, and what we have not yet earned. It is profoundly true that a poor person is not the one who owns little, but the one who constantly wants more—things he or she does not actually need. Comparison is a poison we must learn to identify and stop. If you want incredible things to happen in your life, you will need to adopt incredible discipline, deep knowledge, and almost inhuman, relentless hard work and processes. Never, ever diminish what you have in your hands right now; the way you use what God gave you today will define what you will have in the future. By accepting the process and the sacrifice that good things of value require, never forget that everything of service and value shares core traits: knowledge, discipline, skill, order, and structure. This is the exact same logic God used to create the universe, applied to our human scale. If you can accept this and make it your permanent mindset, scaling and progressing in life will not be a problem… it will happen the right way, by honest merit.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.'”
— Hebrews 13:5

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”
— Epictetus

“Social comparison theory demonstrates that upward social comparisons on digital platforms directly correlate with increased depressive symptoms and anxiety in the human brain.”
— Dr. Leon Festinger (Social Psychologist)

Written by: Rhet Arevalo Marini