No-Anxiety Stories. Chapter 21: Trust Is a Muscle
Annie was looking for a bench in the park on Madeira island when our call connected.
Her voice was warm, grounded. Not the kind of calm that comes from avoidance, but from someone who’s stared her fears down - and chosen trust over control.
“I work less with clients now,” she said, “but anxiety - it's still a subject I know intimately. Because I’ve been through it.”
The Geography of the Nervous System
Annie moved to Madeira more than two years ago. Not because of the war. Not even for work. “I left a toxic relationship,” she said plainly. “And everything after that - even the stress of papers, rent, jobs - felt like freedom by comparison.”
She expected the move to spark anxiety. New country, new systems, unstable income. “But for me,” she smiled, “it did the opposite. It calmed me.”
🌀 Reflect:
Does your current anxiety come from the unknown - or from what you already know too well?
When Anxiety Is Not a Crisis, But a Companion
Annie knows the contours of high-functioning anxiety. She’s worked with crypto founders, startup types, somatic clients - people whose outer performance masks inner overdrive.
“Anxiety’s always there,” she admitted. “But now it doesn’t consume me.”
For her, the sharpest spikes came from finances. The sudden shift from a shared life - dual income, split costs - to “Will I be able to pay rent next month?”
There was no fixed salary, no guarantee. And yet: “I didn’t die of hunger. I figured things out. So I started trusting myself. And that trust became my foundation.”
Two Pillars: Self and Something Bigger
Annie’s tools weren’t all from therapy. “I realized I had no trust - not in the world, not in life, not even in God. And yet I prayed. So what was I doing if I didn’t believe?”
She reflected. Noticed how life had never truly abandoned her. “Every time I thought I was at the bottom, something or someone showed up.”
She made a decision - part logic, part leap of faith. “I chose to believe that the world is conspiring in my favor. I became a paranoid optimist.”
🌀 Reflect:
When you look back, were you ever truly alone? How might that change the story your nervous system tells?
Nomad Without Panic
For nearly two years, Annie lived without a fixed address. Floating, adapting. “It’s been wild,” she laughed. “But also powerful. I learned to trust the fall.”
Now, she’s craving roots. A place. A cat. “I want my books on a shelf again.” But the experience of drifting didn’t break her - it trained her.
Connections were harder. “It’s not anxiety - it’s fatigue. Restarting relationships from scratch takes energy. But your people do appear, eventually.”
Her No-Anxiety Practices
When I asked Annie what truly helped, she didn’t name a course or a coach. She said:
Meditation, not as escape, but as exploration. “I follow the emotion to its core. Usually there's a fear there. And when I see it clearly, it shifts.”
Dialogue with the fear: “I ask it - ‘What are you trying to protect?’ And then we renegotiate.”
Inner training: Not just mantras or mindset, but actually rehearsing self-belief: “I’ve made it through before. I’ll make it again.”
Literature that expands, not contracts: Viktor Frankl. Erich Fromm. Tools like CBT and emotional-imagery therapy.
Spiritual reframing: “You can call it God, the Universe, Life - it’s not about religion. It’s about not feeling like you’re the only one steering the ship.”
💡 What you might take from Annie’s story
Moving away doesn’t always mean running away. Sometimes, it’s the first real breath.
Trust is both memory and decision. Recall the times you made it through - and choose to believe that you will again.
Your nervous system can’t run on logic alone. Sometimes it needs a leap.
Anxiety doesn’t vanish. But it can become a messenger instead of a master.
“I used to want to be a snowflake,” Annie smiled. “Now I want to be a well-oiled gear in something bigger.”
Thanks for reading.
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