Overcoming Anxiety & Depression预览

Serving others

One of the most counterintuitive things that battles anxiety and depression is serving others. The Bible is filled with instructions on serving one another and bearing one another's burdens. In Ephesians, we are told we are God’s workmanship, created for good works which He prepared. We ultimately find the most fulfillment when we serve others. Scientists and psychologists have seen the outcomes of these Biblical principles. According to a Mayo Clinic study, “Volunteering reduces stress and increases positive, relaxed feelings by releasing dopamine. By spending time in service to others, volunteers report feeling a sense of meaning and appreciation, both given and received, which can have a stress-reducing effect.” (The Cleveland Clinic)

“Studies have indicated that volunteering is great for your mental health,” said Susan Albers, PsyD, psychologist for Cleveland Clinic. “It has been shown to decrease stress levels, depression, anxiety, and boost your overall health and satisfaction with life.”

Dr. Albers said that when you help other people, it activates the reward center in your brain and releases serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins.

Part of this is that we are made for more than a self-centered life. God’s directions are to serve one another. As we do, it does something inside us. While anxiety and depression both push us toward internal focus, internal focus often pushes us toward anxiety and depression. When we lift our focus onto serving others, it does a wonder in our own hearts.

I am often told by those who serve that they thought they were only there to help others, but to their surprise, it has helped them. Serving others brought life to them and became a highlight of their week. That serving others has brought life to them. When we turn our focus off our problems and let God work through us in the lives of those around us, it does something amazing in us. You can serve with your church, with different organizations, or just with someone you see with a need. But regardless of where you serve, taking our eyes off ourselves and serving others helps us, too.

As we wrap up this plan, I want to summarize:

God’s plan and desire for you is peace, not anxiety or depression. He wants to set you free and fill you with the joy from His presence. While we don’t control all of our circumstances, our circumstances don’t have to control us. We can still have peace when things around us aren’t perfect. Our focus matters. Where we fix our eyes, hearts, and thoughts will overflow into our feelings. When we fix our eyes on God, we can find His peace.

Our feelings get into a cycle. We look for more of how we feel. We find more of what we look for. So if the cycle you have been on has been rough, it may take some time to make new habits and neurological connections, but we can do it. We aren’t doomed to keep repeating the habits that used to mark us. When we choose to look for things to be thankful for and to give thanks, it breaks the cycle of complaining and heaviness. Giving thanks is the opposite mental direction of complaining, anxiety, and depression. Our brain can’t go in all directions at once. If we choose to give thanks, it will pull away from the other directions. Our words don’t just show us how we feel, they steer our lives. Our words are taking us places; they shape thoughts, feelings, and the filters we look through. Don’t mistake empty for broken. While both can look like a breakdown, the solution is different. Make sure you are taking time to rest, sleep, and eat. Just because you can do it for a short time doesn’t mean you can do it indefinitely. If we get caught trying to live life at a full sprint, eventually we will find ourselves collapsing, as not every pace is sustainable. Relationships do matter. No matter how much we want to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, it doesn’t work. God said it wasn’t good for man to be alone. We are designed for relationships. We are instructed to love one another, encourage each other, and bear one another’s burdens. Find people going in the direction you want to be going, and do life together on purpose. Let’s check ourselves. Have substitutes taken the place of what we really need? Are we getting the nutrition, rest, and relationships we need, or are we finding a way to try to cope without them? Last, but not least, life is better when we serve others. When we take the focus off ourselves and let God work through us to serve others, we will always find that it serves and blesses us too.