Removing the AXE from Anxiety

Removing the AXE from AnXiEty.

Because that’s what it feels like…
not butterflies.
not nerves.

An axe.

Chopping at my life quietly.
Splitting wood from the inside out.

Anxiety hasn’t always looked dramatic on me.
It hasn’t always been panic attacks or shaking hands.

Sometimes it looks like:

Overthinking success.
Questioning opportunities.
Preparing for loss before love has a chance to land.
Editing myself before anyone asks me to.

Chop.
Chop.
Chop.

It’s subtle.
But it’s sharp.

And if I’m honest… there was a season where anxiety almost cost me my own expansion.

I hesitated on projects I prayed for.
Delayed decisions that aligned with my purpose.
Talked myself out of rooms I was qualified to sit in.

Not because I wasn’t capable.

Because I was bracing.

Bracing for impact.
For embarrassment.
For failure.
For “I told you so.”
For proof that I wasn’t enough.

And slowly…
the axe kept swinging.

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The Work of the Axe

An axe doesn’t destroy in one blow.
It weakens in repetition.

Anxiety does the same.

It chips at:

• Self-trust
• Decision-making
• Creativity
• Joy
• Rest

Until you begin to shrink…
not because you’re small
but because you’re exhausted from holding yourself upright.

And here’s the part that stings:

Sometimes I’ve been the one holding the axe.

Replaying mistakes like highlight reels.
Calling fear “discernment.”
Calling avoidance “timing.”
Calling self-doubt “humility.”

But humility doesn’t dismantle your worth.
Anxiety does.

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The Spiritual Layer We Don’t Always Talk About

Anxiety is loud.
Faith is quiet.

Anxiety says:
“What if everything goes wrong?”

Faith whispers:
“What if it doesn’t?”

Anxiety speeds up the breath.
Faith slows it down.

There were nights I had to literally sit still and breathe…
because my thoughts were louder than truth.

Not every anxious thought is revelation.
Not every fear is prophecy.

Sometimes your nervous system is just tired.
Sometimes your mind is trying to protect you from a pain that hasn’t happened.

And sometimes…
you have to remind yourself that God did not build you to live braced.

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Removing the Axe

Removing the axe doesn’t mean anxiety disappears.

It means I stop swinging with it.

It means:

• I interrupt catastrophic thinking.
• I pause before assuming the worst.
• I separate intuition from insecurity.
• I breathe before I believe every thought.

It means strengthening the tree instead of testing how much it can survive.

Because survival isn’t the goal.

Wholeness is.

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When a Tree Falls

They say when a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it… did it make a sound?

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Even if no one heard it…
the ground felt it.

The roots felt it.
The ecosystem shifted.

My internal world feels it when I’m being chopped down by my own thoughts.

And that matters.

The quiet destruction matters.

But so does the decision to stop participating in it.

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Reflection

What have you been chopping at in yourself?

Your voice?
Your vision?
Your worth?
Your timing?

What would it look like to put the axe down?

Not tomorrow.

Today.

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Anxiety may visit.

But it does not get to own the weapon anymore.

And neither do I.