🏴 You need to calm down...

Hey friends!

Last week, I posted a tweet about anxiety:

As someone who experiences occasional anxiety, I made this claim because I genuinely believe it.

The pharmaceutical industry wants to push pills on people… and people are too quick to accept these prescriptions.

It’s actually concerning, in my opinion.

Personally, I’ve never pursued medical treatment for the occasional anxiety I experience, because it isn’t that severe.

I know many other people experience worse anxiety than me.

And if you’re suffering with severe anxiety, you definitely should get the treatment you need!

But I see a problem with the way anxiety is treated by medical doctors…

Medical doctors rarely ask these questions:

• Do you get between six and eight hours of quality sleep each night?

• What does your diet look like, including water intake?

• How stressful is your work environment?

• How much alcohol are you drinking?

• How much coffee do you drink?

• Do you use any drugs?

• Do you exercise daily?

And it’s obvious why these questions don’t get asked.

Now, I don’t want to make any assumptions about doctors, psychiatrists, or people who suffer from severe anxiety.

After all, I am not a doctor and NOTHING in this e-mail should be taken as medical advice.

But oftentimes when we go see a doctor, their focus is more on the prescription than the person.

If the doctor can write a script and it temporarily reduces anxiety (or any other medical condition), then that doctor doesn’t need to do the hard work of getting to the root of the problem.

And I’ll take it one step further…

Medical doctors aren’t paid to get to the root of the problem… they’re paid to provide medical treatment.

Now, it may seem like I’m throwing shade at the field of medicine, and in a way I am.

I have many friends who are doctors. I love them and I respect them for taking on that noble mission.

But doctors are overworked. They’re stressed, too.

When I wrote that tweet about anxiety, I was thinking about all the holistic approaches someone could take to experience relief from anxiety.

• Prayer

• Deep breaths

• A long walk

• Therapy

• Meditation

• A day off

• Daily naps

The list could go on and on.

It’s generally true that the holistic approach to anxiety reduction takes longer than medical treatment…

It’s also true you will need to take action every day in order to keep anxiety at bay.

Newsflash: If you decide to take a pill to manage your anxiety, you’ll probably need to take that pill every day.

The Bible’s treatment of anxiety

I am a Christian and I believe the Bible is not only the Word of God, but it is the single greatest self-help book ever written.

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul writes:

Now, regardless if you are a Christian or not, it’s clear that the Bible prescribes prayer as the holistic and faith-based treatment for anxiety.

See, back then, there was no Xanax, Prozac, or Lexapro.

This biblical prescription pre-dates all that.

In this passage, the phrase “in every situation” implies there will be different times where you’ll need to call on God to bring calm to the anxiety.

In other words, it’s not a one-time thing. It’s something you do in every situation—whether you’re happy, sad, experiencing euphoria, or experiencing a panic attack.

Pray.

But don’t get me wrong on this.

Prayer is not a magic wand. You can’t just pray and twiddle your thumbs and wait for God to do something. You’re gonna need to do some hard work—you’re gonna need to do your part.

Anxiety can (and should) be treated in more than one way.

What’s the first line of defense against anxiety?

Let’s get this out of the way: Anxiety is a normal thing that normal humans experience.

It’s wired in us for good reason.

And for most of human history, we haven’t had access to chemicals that could help reduce or eliminate anxiety.

Is that good or bad? I’d say a little of both.

But one of the main arguments I want to make today is if and when we experience anxiety, we ought to try every single holistic remedy or treatment possible before we resort to pills.

In other words, pills ought to be the last choice on our list if and only if breathing exercises, meditation, reduction of alcohol consumption, and other holistic remedies do not truly help with anxiety reduction.

And that’s my perspective on medication for anxiety treatment: Try everything natural and holistic, and if that doesn’t work, then go for the medicine.

My anxiety plummeted when I stopped drinking alcohol

I have shared with my audience on X that I quit drinking alcohol on June 3, 2023.

I quit drinking because it made me feel terrible.

But over time, I slowly realized I was worrying less about the future.

I was less apt to be restless.

I started sleeping better.

I felt stronger in the gym.

Imagine if I had kept drinking alcohol but instead went to the doctor and accepted a prescription for a pill to reduce anxiety.

Not only would I be increasing the number of outside chemicals my body would need to process…

It wouldn’t get to the root of the problem…

It wouldn’t change the things that were causing my anxiety.

Because I feel so good about not drinking, and because my anxiety levels have been at an all-time low, I’m going to continue to stay dry for the foreseeable future.

Final thoughts

I’m no medical professional, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt. Nothing in this e-mail should be taken as medical advice… most of it is just an opinion from someone who doesn’t particularly care for the state of modern medicine. I mean, sure, it has its upsides, but big pharmacy is a beast.

As far as anxiety goes, do what works for you. It’s my opinion that pills should be a last resort, and for some people, they’re necessary.

I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Mission Dominate. Over the next several weeks and months, I’ll be experimenting with different formats, post frequency, and topics.

If you enjoyed this letter (or if you didn’t), please respond and let me know.

Until next time,
Neil

P.S. If you haven’t yet connected with me over on LinkedIn, please head over to my profile and connect with me! I’m doubling down on LinkedIn starting this week… which involves one new carousel daily and super-high engagement. See you there!