How is it possible that a severe elbow injury could be a good thing for a man who makes a living throwing a baseball with that arm? Answer: It made him depressed. So depressed, in fact, that when the elbow had healed, he was still unable to return to his team.

Justin Duchscherer, a pitcher for the Oakland A’s, missed much of the 2009 season due to elbow surgery. When he was about to return to the A’s, he sat paralyzed with depression, unable to board a plane.

In an article at SF Gate (Susan Slusser, Dec. 31, 2009, http://articles.sfgate.com/keyword/justin-duchscherer), Duchscherer says that the injury gave him too much time to think. And the rumination confronted him with some issues that he hadn’t realized were doing a low rumble beneath the surface. He also says that he is happy that he had the experience and is a better person for having gone through the depression. (Slusser, SF Gate)

And that leads me to wonder what might have happened had he not been “blessed” with depression. The unresolved - and perhaps unconscious - issues would have still been festering beneath the surface; and sooner or later would likely have manifested more prominently in his life.

If not for depression, would perfectionism have destroyed Justin Duchscherer’s pitching ability? Would baseball have become misery for him? Might he have turned to alcohol to deal with the frustration of not being perfect - or taken it out on his teammates?

And this leaves me with a bigger question. Can we see depression not as a stumbling block to be avoided, but as a sign that we are actually making progress?  Does it mean that we are now more prepared to confront issues that we had been - almost unconsciously - pushing out of our full awareness. Issues that were there, nonetheless, causing some Not Otherwise Specified Anxiety?

I contend that depression is a sign that we are starting to say, “This crap is real. It matters. And I can’t push it away. I’m going to look at it - even if it makes me miserable.” If so, I call that progress. It’s not the end of the process and it’s certainly not good to stay there, but is a step in the right direction. Think of that! Depression - a step in the right direction. It’s a place where we recognize a problem and stop ignoring it; and have a chance to confront it, work through it, learn from it, resolve it, and move on to a more productive life than ever before.

From that perspective I would say that not getting depressed might actually keep us stuck. I am not masochistic enough to say that I would welcome depression - or sadistic enough to recommend that you pursue it. I’d rather we spare ourselves the pain and just resolve the underlying problems. But if we do get depressed,  I suggest we look at it as progress toward a better future rather than a failure of our present.

Justin Duchscherer might be out of baseball if he had not become depressed and dealt with the issues he was keeping below the surface. As it is, he now says that he is a better person because of the depression and realizes that he is “more than a baseball player.” (Slusser, SF Gate) I call that kind of depression not just progress, but a blessing. One that might even make Justin Duchscherer a better baseball player, in addition to a better person

Whenever you find yourself beset with problems that cannot be solved easily, I would find it imperative for you to be able to know what those problems are so that you would be able to solve them easily and get yourself out of the mess that you are in. In regard to anxiety disorders, this is no different. What I am about to tell you will be able to change your life and make you a better person immediately.

The first thing that you ought to know is that you ought to be equipped with the best information immediately regarding anxiety if you want to be free of it. As the saying goes, know your enemy if you want to be victorious in battle. The same goes for conquering an anxiety disorder. You will have to know what is most important about it in order for you to defeat it easily and this can easily be the first step that you take towards success.

If you are able to be equipped with the right information on what to do, then you will be able to conquer it relatively easily. If you are not, then defeat awaits you in the corridors of failure.

The second step is to actively seek out all the possible ways to solve the problem that is ahead of you. This step is crucial if you want to avoid failure. Why is that so? This is because on there are many roads to Rome and equally, there are many paths to success. There is no one size fits all and you will find that there are many solutions on the way to success and curing anxiety. To have a greater chance of success, you will have to try all of them and make sure that you give each and every one of them an equal shot. Who knows? You may very well cure your anxiety that easily.

The third step is to have the persistence and patience to wait all of it through for your success. It will not be fast and patience is the best companion that you can have on this journey. As long as you are willing to try and wait for the results, then you will have completed the three steps to success.

Oftentimes, negative self talk or the negative things we tell ourselves everyday cause us to be anxious even about the smallest things. Anxiety is a part of human life. In fact most psychologists say that a moderate amount of anxiety is healthy, because this is the way the mind warns us of dangers or impending threats to our bodies. It is when anxieties start ruling our lives and preventing us from enjoying our existence that it is considered a disorder.

There are many ways to deal with anxiety, but the one that most doctors and therapists recommend is cognitive behavior therapy. This is a form of treatment where a person goes through a series of sessions aimed to change the way he thinks. A good deal of time during these sessions is spent on changing the thought patterns of a patient that takes him from the anticipatory (expecting the worst to happen) stage to the rational stage. This is done by repeating positive words that can drastically alter his thoughts.

Here are some examples of positive self talk that you can try if you are suffering from daily, irrational anxieties:

1. Today, I am in control. I will enjoy this day because everything will work out right today.

2. I am feeling great. Anxiety is something I can control, not something that can control me.

3. Right now I am aware that there is fear inside me, but I am slowly seeing it disappear and I will be fine.

4. For now, I will focus on doing something positive rather than be gripped and paralyzed by this fear.

5. I am getting to be a better person because I can control my negative thoughts.

6. I will take a deep breath and as I release the air from my body, so will the toxic thoughts in my mind be removed.

7. Anxiety is a bad habit that my body has learned through time. It is not too late to change this habit and channel the energy I spend being anxious into something more positive.

You’ve often heard it said - “You are what you think you are”. There are many instances when the thing you fear most becomes real - this is because sometimes the thoughts that you have in your head become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And so if you think that you will attract disaster, you certainly will!

Do not let anxious thoughts fill your life with fear and misery. Take charge of your life by filling your thoughts