#82 How To Be Free From Worry and Anxiety Without Medication
- Francois Esterhuizen
- Sep 15
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 28
Freedom from anxiety isn’t found in control, but in presence.
Francois Esterhuizen explains how worry traps your mind in the past or future and how returning to the present moment restores clarity, peace, and freedom.
Where is your mind right now?
Is it replaying a conversation from yesterday, dissecting what you should have said? Or is it jumping ahead to a meeting next week, rehearsing for a dozen different outcomes?
Most of the time, our bodies are here, but our minds are somewhere else entirely. We are physically present, but mentally captive. This is the source of much of our worry and anxiety. We believe we are trapped by our circumstances, but the cage is not external. It is the one we build in our own minds, bar by bar, with thoughts of the past and projections of the future.
Freedom is now
We often think of freedom as something we will achieve later; when the project is finished, when the finances are stable, when the conflict is resolved. But this is a fundamental misunderstanding. Freedom is not a future destination. It is only ever now.
When you are dragged by regret or driven by worry, you are not free. You are reacting on autopilot with most of your attention and energy on the past or the future. True freedom is the ability to stand in the space between a stimulus and your response and consciously choose. That space exists only in the now.
The practice of single-minded presence
This is not to say you should never think about the past or the future. The wisdom, as Viktor Frankl discovered even in the horrors of a concentration camp, lies in choosing how you engage with them from the firm ground of the present.
So, how do you do this practically?
The antidote to the scattered mind is single-mindedness, the conscious decision to give your full attention to what is right in front of you.
When you are in a conversation, you are fully listening, not just waiting for your turn to speak.
When you are working, you are immersed in the task, tasting the freedom from self-doubt and distraction.
When you are with your family, you are present, not scrolling through a mental to-do list.
In these moments of deliberate focus, the anxious chatter quiets. The weight of regret lightens. By choosing one thing, you free yourself from the tyranny of everything else. This is not a grand, mystical state. It is a simple, repeatable choice.
Your next move
The next time you feel the familiar grip of worry or anxiety, do not try to fight the thought. Simply ask yourself, "Where am I right now?"
Gently invite your mind back to the present. Pay attention to your breath. Feel your feet on the floor. This small act of returning to the now is a quiet rebellion against the tyranny of your own mind. It is a transaction where you "pay" a moment of attention and, in return, you buy a moment of freedom.
Each time you consciously return to the present, you are choosing liberation over captivity. You are choosing to be free.
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Francois Esterhuizen is a trusted and sought-after clarity and leadership coach based in Stellenbosch, partnering online with South Africans worldwide. His work helps entrepreneurs and leaders turn emotional resistance into clarity, momentum, and meaningful growth.
