We often hear about the benefits of meditation for calming the mind and reducing anxiety. Personally, I explored this path for a long time. I practiced breathing techniques, mindfulness, and sought to reconnect with the present moment. While this brought temporary relief, something was missing for me to truly heal and move forward.

My experience with anxiety wasn’t limited to negative thoughts or worries about the future. My body also caused me discomfort. I had unexplained pains, especially in my stomach, and physical tension that appeared without any apparent reason. It was a destabilizing mix of psychological and physical symptoms that often left me exhausted. Worse yet, when I practiced meditation, instead of finding peace, I often focused more on these pains, increasing my discomfort.

Meditation, while it helped me gain perspective on my thoughts, had a side effect that I didn’t like: it led me to pay closer attention to my bodily pains, forcing me to give them even more attention. During these meditation sessions, my stomach pains seemed more present than ever, which also heightened my worries about the future. I wondered if these pains would persist, worsen, or be a sign of something more serious.

That’s when I realized that meditation alone wasn’t enough to solve my problem. It helped me slow down, observe my thoughts, but it didn’t change the reality around me or address my physical symptoms. The root causes of my anxiety – my obligations, my doubts, my fears about the future – persisted, as did the pains in my body.

A Dimension of Wisdom to Integrate

At that point, I began to think that maybe there was another dimension of wisdom I needed to integrate into my life. This idea became a turning point in my healing journey. I realized that the purely introspective approach, as beneficial as it could be, wasn’t enough to fully transform my daily life. I was missing an essential key: action.

It’s this balanced approach, combining the wisdom of mindfulness with the necessity of taking action, that I explain in detail in the Zero Time for Anxiety Program. This program offers a concrete method for breaking the vicious cycle of anxiety by integrating action principles into a foundation of mindfulness and self-awareness.

The Importance of Taking Action

That’s when I understood that action needed to become an essential part of my approach. Instead of staying stuck, waiting for things to change or for my meditation practice to “heal” everything, I made the decision to focus on concrete actions. I realized I had to act to influence my reality, to build a framework that would support both my mental and physical well-being.

Why is action so powerful against anxiety? Because it moves things forward. It creates momentum, an impulse. When we’re in motion, physically or mentally, we create new opportunities, change our environment, and most importantly, we break away from the thinking patterns that fuel anxiety. When we remain still, our thoughts can loop, creating a cycle of negativity and helplessness. Action, on the other hand, interrupts this cycle by bringing a new dynamic.

In my case, I realized that action allowed me to divert my attention from physical pains and persistent worries about the future. When I immersed myself in a task or project, my mind had less time to ruminate and less space to amplify the painful sensations in my body.

Why Meditation Wasn’t Enough Long-Term

Although meditation is a valuable practice for reconnecting with the present moment, it alone cannot solve all the root causes of anxiety, especially when it’s linked to physical symptoms. Meditation often brought me to a state of stillness that, instead of relieving me, heightened my awareness of my bodily pains. Every sensation in my body, whether it was a stomach ache or tension in my shoulders, became more present, contributing to my worries about my health.

I needed to create change in my life, and this required more than just becoming aware of my thoughts and body. It required concrete actions, decisions, and steps forward. By taking these actions, I began to regain a sense of control, direction, and new energy.

Here are three concrete actions that made a difference for me:

Setting Clear Goals

One of the major sources of my anxiety was the uncertainty about the future. Not knowing where I was going, not having a clear plan or goal to reach, kept me in a constant state of doubt and confusion. I felt lost, floating in a sea of unknowns. I realized that this lack of direction greatly exacerbated my anxiety.

To counter this, I started setting concrete, achievable goals. These goals didn’t have to be ambitious or complex, but they had to give me a sense of direction, a path to follow.

Example: Short-Term Goals to Regain a Sense of Control

At first, I set small daily goals like tidying up a room, going for a walk, or working on a project for an hour. These small actions, though seemingly insignificant, created a sense of accomplishment. By completing simple, concrete tasks, I began to prove to myself that I could make progress, even when my mind was cluttered with worries.

Next, I set longer-term goals: improving my professional skills, exploring new career opportunities, and investing in creative projects. Each goal I achieved boosted my self-esteem and calmed the anxious voices telling me I wasn’t enough or that the future was too uncertain.

Setting goals allowed me to give purpose to my daily actions. These actions became steps along a broader path, and this alignment between my actions and goals helped me regain a sense of control and direction.

Focusing on What is Controllable

One of the most paralyzing aspects of anxiety is that it pushes us to focus on things beyond our control. We get lost in hypothetical scenarios, in “what ifs” that keep us in a constant state of worry. This type of thinking creates a vicious cycle: the more we focus on the uncontrollable, the more powerless we feel, and the more anxiety grows.

I learned to redirect my attention toward what I could actually influence. I adopted an action-oriented mindset, always asking myself: “What can I do right now to improve this situation, even in a small way?”

Example: Reorganizing My Immediate Environment

A simple but powerful example was reorganizing my living space. I focused on things I could control immediately, like tidying my desk, organizing my finances, or reviewing my schedule. While these actions didn’t solve my long-term anxiety problems, they created a clearer, more orderly environment, which helped me manage my thoughts better.

I also applied this approach to more complex situations. For example, if I was anxious about an important meeting, I focused on what I could prepare in advance to be ready. Simply making a plan, organizing my ideas, or practicing a presentation reduced the feeling of uncertainty and allowed me to regain a sense of control.

Starting New Projects

Nothing is more beneficial against anxiety than immersing yourself in a new, stimulating activity. One of the biggest challenges I faced with anxiety was the paralysis I felt when starting projects.