Anxious, Anxious Anxiety

Your mind races.

Your heart races.

Then

Your chest is tight.

And

You have to remind yourself to breathe.

And remind yourself to breathe.

Did that make you anxious just reading about it?

It made my heart speed up a little bit.

I think I’ve been dealing with anxiety since I was 10 or 11 years old.

Sometimes it’s easier to deal with than others.

Like all of January this year.

Usually, I can use one of my strategies to help me control and minimize it.

And, usually, they work.

But not this last month.

Nothing made the tightness in my chest lessen for more than a few hours.

Nothing could slow my racing heart when the anxiety decided to run away with me.

You know it’s bad when the things that normally work suddenly don’t.

So I did what I knew how to do.

I tried to minimize stress.

I listened to music that uplifted and relaxed.

This Spotify playlist has gotten me up and moving so many days this year so far it’s no joke. It’s the 100 Days to Brave playlist created to accompany the book. They add a new song every day.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0MVDJGILNZC2MBVRHdpSjq

I did my best to focus my thoughts on positive things, God things, and silly things.

I watched things that made me laugh.

I played in the snow and made a snowman.

I relaxed by the fire in the wood stove.

I drank so many cups of tea.

I read books that encouraged me.

Of course, I also read a couple of books that made me cry.

And I got through January.

And the anxiety is less.

It’s not totally gone.

But it’s manageable again.

And I can live with that.

I can’t give you a fix-it for your anxiety.

If I had one, I would totally let you in on the secret.

Maybe this will help you figure out how to manage yours.

Here’s to anxiety and managing it and thriving in spite of it.

I stumbled across Michele Cushatt’s Facebook live this last week shortly after writing this draft. She talks about how she has learned how to deal with the fear and anxiety and I asked her if I could share it here with you.