About Blaine

Do you have anxiety? Here’s how to turn that nervousness to joy

By Published On: October 6th, 2022Categories: Personal Growth, Wisdom from BlaineComments Off on Do you have anxiety? Here’s how to turn that nervousness to joy

Hi , I’m still in Mallorca (this trip is three weeks long).

I’ve received a few messages from people who haven’t heard of Mallorca. It’s a Spanish island in the Mediterranean. Berk and I decided to travel here because we like to take cycling trips together (we first met in a cycling club in Connecticut) and Mallorca is known as a great place for biking. If you’ve ever watched the Tour de France, many of those teams travel here to train every year.

Yesterday, we rode our bikes up to a lighthouse on a cliff.


On paper, the ride didn’t seem too daunting. Sure, there was some steep climbing, but I climb all the time at altitude in Colorado and if this place isn’t sea level, I don’t know what is.

Remember, two days ago I wrote about how inventing images in your mind and hanging on to them creates suffering and part of learning to master the mind is leaning into reality instead? Well, I got to practice that real quick on this bike ride!

The route to the lighthouse was steep with sharp turns and cliffs and endless blue sea. That, in itself, wasn’t a problem for me. The issue was that the road was jam packed with cars and buses and campers and hundreds of other cyclists of all different abilities so things became dicey fast.

And what goes up, must come down. I don’t know which was scarier, the down or the up. It doesn’t matter though. Both made me feel ALIVE.

Even though I was anxious about impatient drivers making rash, unexpected moves, I was in complete awe of the scenery around me. Vibrant blue sky, even bluer water, stark cliffs jutting into the Mediterranean, gorgeous coves. The wonder of nature took my breath away.

The journey was exhilarating. And exactly what I needed.

It’s sooooooo easy to get comfortable as you age…. I can keep on riding the same rides I always bike at home, keep running the same runs, keep doing the same yoga, keep completing the same (insert that thing you always do here).

Sure, we stay healthy and we’re moving but do you know what we’re missing?

In Five Element theory, it’s Fire. When you study the Five Elements, you learn that when Fire is out of balance, you have anxiety and if you can transcend that anxiety, you get joy!

Think about anything scary you’ve done in your life: starting a new job, opening a new business, moving away from home as a young adult, tipping your skis over the top of a run that intimidates you or walking into a social event by yourself when you don’t know anyone.

If you hadn’t forced yourself push past the anxiety, you wouldn’t have received the joy!

Through these challenges, we transmute anxiety into joy. We make new friends, we accomplish something we thought we couldn’t, we achieve.

We get that fire in the belly back, which is why I needed that ride, and this trip.

This morning I woke up with a new fresh energy that I haven’t felt in a long time and it feels really good.

Do you want to tackle a new thing to push your boundaries and bring a new spark to your life? What is it? What’s stopping you?

Hit reply and let me know. Maybe just writing it and hitting send will be just the nudge you need. I’ll send some encouragement right back your way!