Anxiety Is Like an Armed Torpedo

- 3 minutes read - 507 words

Anxiety: A Target Seeking Armed Torpedo

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that anxiety is like the torpedo scene in the movie The Hunt for Red October. Like an armed torpedo, our brains like to search for a target.

In the movie, Soviet submarine Capitan Ramius is attempting to defect and turn over the submarine to the U.S. government. But before they sail, he sends a letter explaining his intent to a relative in the Soviet government, and now the whole Soviet navy is hunting him.

One of his former students, Captian Tupolev, catches up and fires a torpedo at the Red October. But Capitan Ramius is an expert on submarine tactics and speeds toward the oncoming torpedo. The torpedo bounces off the Red October, but doesn’t explode because it didn’t travel far / long enough to arm.

So Tupolev, hungry for the win, over the pleading warning of his first officer, turns off the safety on his torpedos and fires again. That torpedo leaves the tube, ready to explode, searching for a target. Any target.

Anxiety is when that target is something that I have no control over or don’t have the information to solve the problem. These anxious thoughts are invariably about the future and how something will turn out. As if my thinking about it can solve it.

My anxious brain is like that armed torpedo, searching and searching for a target. And like Tupolev recklessly firing off that torpedo, it circles back and harms me.

photo of Captian Tupolev from the movie The Hunt from Red October as he gives the command to take the safety off the torpedos

Don't Be This Guy

How to Reset Our Targets

  • We don’t have a lot of control over the thoughts that pop into our heads. Accept that.

  • We can recognize when we’re feeding those thoughts by trying to figure out what’s going to happen. That’s your brain looking for a target.

  • If you’ve reached the point of anxiety, stop the thought loops. Get up and move so you give that anxious energy some place to go. Go for a walk. Jump rope. Dance. Seriously, this is an important step. That anxious energy will feed your thought loops if you don’t give it somewhere else to go, so move!

  • Then, if you are still having those anxiety inducing thoughts, give your brain a different target. Maybe write down what the issue is. What about it is causing you fear? What about this situation is in your control? Have you done what you can? Why isn’t that good enough?

This is an Opportunity

You’ll discover that your anxious thoughts are an opportunity to learn and grow if you take the time to think about why you are experiencing anxiety. The growth and journey of discovery I’ve experienced as a result of anxiety has been the most rewarding experience of my life. It was extremely painful, but I am so grateful for all that I’ve learned.

I hope this gives you some understanding of how you can learn to live with anxiety, and that you can learn to change how to retarget your brain when you have anxious thoughts.