Recently, Gen Z has developed an obsession with manifesting. I think of it like this: your past actions brought you to where you are today, so what you do in the present dictates the life you’ll live in the future. This practice derives from the New Thought movement’s Law of Attraction, and suggests that we have the power to create our reality through visualization and positive thinking.
It’s not always easy to have idealized thoughts about the future and embrace positive self-talk when you’re suffering from anxiety. Anxiety, which is defined as a nervous disorder that’s characterized by uneasiness and apprehension, manifests itself differently in everyone. For myself, it feels like my mind is trapped in a space that’s difficult to escape. I lose control over my thoughts and feelings, and focus on a fear-fuelled tunnel vision. In this state, it’s difficult to imagine the potentiality and fullness of my life.
But manifesting while suffering from anxiety is not impossible. In fact, I’ve learned to use manifesting as a coping mechanism to counteract negative self-talk by reminding myself of my purpose.
I use manifesting to firstly recognize some of my fears for what they are — protective mechanisms that keep me in my comfort zone. Therefore, an important step in tackling my anxiety is to face my fears and ask myself, “What exactly am I afraid of?”
After I recognize my fears, it’s crucial for me to remember that my thoughts don’t always contain deeper meanings. A key aspect of my journey of manifesting was to distinguish my intuitive thoughts from my anxious thoughts. As a writer, my intuitions drive me to write about my experiences with emotional responses to situations. However, my anxious thoughts have often led me to disregard many of my writings because of the voice in the back of my head saying, “What if?” What if my stories make me too vulnerable? What if people can’t relate to my journey? What if I’m not good enough?
In the past, I’ve allowed these anxious thoughts to surpass my intuitive ones, which made it difficult for me to evolve as a writer. But gradually deciding to follow my intuition has offered me a sense of optimism, making it easier to overcome the fear fuelled by my anxiety.
Manifesting is all about perception. When you think too much about a situation, you enhance your imaginative abilities by creating a mental scenario of what could happen. The key to manifesting is to use those same imaginative powers to instead create visions of yourself that you’d be happier with — for example, a vision of you where you’ve reached your desired goals.
But after you distinguish your thoughts from one another, you still need to find a manifesting technique that works best for you. There are a couple different ones that work best for me.
My first method is creating daily affirmations that support my healing and growth. For example, I find it very useful to say, “I’m allowed to take my own pathway,” because I used to be scared of doing things that made me stand out. To make daily affirmations most effective, they have to be specific to you and your journey.
I also like to create vision boards that remind me of my life’s purpose. I write down what I want to achieve throughout the year. Then, I find photos and quotes on Pinterest that directly reflect these goals.
I make two versions of my board: a digital and a print version. The digital version is the background on my phone and my laptop, which has been really effective to remind myself not to give up on my dreams.
I’ve also recently become interested in scripting practices. This is a goal-setting technique where, instead of writing in the future tense about the goals I wanted to achieve, I write them in the present, using phrases like “I am” instead of “I will be.” This helps me understand my goals clearly and transforms my thoughts to concrete plans on paper.
Having anxiety doesn’t restrict you from having the ability to manifest. It’s much easier said than done, but being aware of our emotions can enable us to let go of the fears holding us back. Using manifesting to cope with anxiety encourages us to step back from a negative cycle of thinking, and pushes us a step closer to following our passions.
Ultimately, manifesting helps you create a plan to achieve your desires and take over situations in which you once felt powerless. When you align your thoughts and actions in a direction that focuses on the things that make you feel good, you will discover that your powers are limitless.
