Hope

I have been struggling with anxiety again, and finally consulted again with my doctor. They are adjusting the medication I'm on and I go back in two weeks. I hate to admit that I'm struggling again. I thought I was over the problem, and I'm not sure what set it off.

I did learn a good tip off the internet for anxiety. You set a worry time for yourself every day, then when something starts to cause you to worry, you write it down and worry about it during your worry time. I'm finding that a lot of what I worry about doesn't happen or isn't as bad as I think. I think this is the key and will just take more practice on my part. I'm also trying to walk a mile a day and eat better.

So I went to www.lds.org and typed in hope. The talk I was referred to was "Hope" from Steven E. Snow, President of the Quorum of the Seventy. He said

"Hope is an emotion which brings richness to our everyday lives. It is defined as 'the feeling that … events will turn out for the best.' When we exercise hope, we 'look forward … with desire and reasonable confidence'...As such, hope brings a certain calming influence to our lives as we confidently look forward to future events.

"We should never let hope be displaced by despair. The Apostle Paul wrote that we should plow in hope' (1 Corinthians 9:10). The exercise of hope enriches our lives and helps us look forward to the future. Whether we are plowing fields to plant or plowing through life, it is imperative we, as Latter-day Saints, have hope."