How do we handle hypochondria as a Christian? (Part 3: The Outer Life)

The much forgotten area of service and healthy distractions

This is a part of a series on hypochondria. See other posts here.

I didn’t consider the outer life until I met my husband, Tyler. He lives the majority of life not in his head like I do so he’s consistently and patiently drawing me out. Being a thoughtful person is great, but how many of us cross into ruminating, which involves “repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences.”¹ It’s damaging because when we ruminate, we’re more likely to “remember more negative things that happened to them in the past, they interpret situations in their current lives more negatively, and they are more hopeless about the future.” ²

Not us, friend! We discussed earlier how our healthy anxiety can draw us nearer to God. Now, we’re seeing how it can draw us nearer to living a present life. 

1. DISTRACTING 

We see distractions in such a negative light, but when I was reading Dale Carnegie’s book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living (would be nice, right?), he talked about distractions in a positive light, and it helped me see the nuance of things. 

If you’re like me, you may feel like you cannot move forward until you figure this out, and getting distracted is actually foolish. Or maybe we feel like we should be handling this in a totally faith-filled way. Aren’t distractions a worldly approach? 

I’ve come to believe that healthy distractions simply give our minds a chance to rest. They pause that rumination process that doesn’t help me. 

This does not mean scrolling your phone to stop the health anxiety. I think you know me better than that. 

What it does mean is thinking about times when you forget about your body. 

For me, one of those is while we’re on our family road trips. The sweetest distractions are long drives through canyons, mountains, and new terrain. Trying to find the best chocolate shop (because we love testing all the weird bonbon flavors) is a good little project while driving, too. And then there are adventurous hikes where you’ve got to push yourself. I think this is one reason I am so fond of our trips besides the obvious. It’s where I seem to battle health anxiety the least. 

So take some time to think: Where do you feel your body least? I’ll share some categories that should help you brainstorm. And they don’t need to require days off and an open highway. Other things that help me are bike rides with my girls. Sometimes, a board game feels too mental when I’m distracted. But a bike ride? We’re noticing ducks by the pond, riding over dirt hills, and seeing our neighbors' dogs. 

2. SERVING

I’ve gotten out of many a funk by stopping and serving someone else. The most joyful, non-anxious season of my life occurred when