If it bleeds, you can kill it

Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as “Dutch,” the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in guerrilla-held territory in Guatemala. While there, they encounter the deadly Predator, a skilled, technologically advanced alien who stalks and hunts them down. Using other-worldly abilities and gadgets, the Predator is seemingly invincible as it kills members of Dutch’s experienced combat squad one by one. It isn’t until one of the team draws enemy blood while fighting the Predator that they realize their enemy can be killed. At this point, Dutch declares, “If it bleeds, we can kill it!”. Having confirmed that their enemy is not invincible, they strategize how to take it out.

While we may not fight alien super-predators today, we still face ferocious battles. Anxiety runs rampant in our society and is just as destructive as the Predator, even having some of the same characteristics. It attacks swiftly with devastating accuracy leaving us feeling overpowered and defenseless. Anxiety, while sharing many physical symptoms with fear, differs from it. Anxiety often reacts to an imprecise, non-existent, or unknown threat. In contrast, when a situation presents a verifiable, definite, and immediate danger, fear takes over, causing a fight-or-flight response. Approximately 20% of U.S. adults experience symptoms of an anxiety disorder during any given year, and women tend to experience these symptoms more often than men.

If you deal with anxiety, there are strategies you can use to help manage immediate symptoms, as well as long-term methods to combat recurring issues. Some quick skills for coping with anxiety include questioning your thought pattern, practicing focused deep breathing, physical exercise, and grounding techniques such as journaling. Several long-term strategies include identifying and learning to manage your triggers, using therapy, maintaining a daily meditation or prayer routine, socializing to your comfort level, staying active, and eating a healthy diet. We must find the recipe of techniques that enhances us individually, but the point is that you will discover what works for you, even if it happens in baby steps. While making progress in small strides may sound discouraging, you should never underestimate the cumulative impact that will take place.

Eventually, you will discover techniques that show progress. Even if they only helped you briefly, they still helped. Using an analogy with the Predator, you have cut anxiety and caused it to bleed. You cut its influence over your mind, and it bled (lost) control over your life, even for only a short time. You have proven that it is not invincible, and you will not be its prisoner indefinitely. You can now fine-tune your strategy over time and incrementally gain more control of your life.

All it takes is for you to injure anxiety once to be encouraged to win this mind war. Cut your anxiety with strategy, the Word, and faith in God; it will bleed, and you can kill it!