No. Big. Deal.

Whenever I'm struggling with something, I try to make a conscious effort to seek out a book to help. If someone wiser & smarter than me has taken the time to provide some tips, there's gotta be something to that.

My current struggle is anxiety, and it's my internal elephant in every room I walk into. For me, anxiety comes in waves. I'll be fine for months until I'm not. There's usually not a reason for it; it just exists. It sucks, but it's there.

Anyway, the book I came across this week is Running Man by Charlie Engle. It's the powerful memoir of a man who used running (marathons, ultra races, adventure races, etc.) as a catalyst to battle addiction.

You could say he dealt with a bit of anxiety himself.

The second-to-last paragraph was monumental for me, and it's the first tool I've found in a long time that actually helps me combat anxiety symptoms as soon as they begin to crawl under my skin:

"I continue to believe that life is all about adaptation. It is not the circumstances that we are dealt that define us. Instead, the fabric of who we are is crafted by how we react, cope, adapt; and now I have a new mantra that I carry with me. It's simple, yet undeniably powerful...When faced with what might seem to be an overwhelming hardship...calm [your] breathing and with each exhale [repeat] these three words, one at a time: 'No. Big. Deal.'" 

I taped this mantra to my desk, and I intend to keep it in my mind at all times.