No one wants to feel anxious - but everyone does at one time or another. And it's not fun. At all.
Ug.
And since anxiety is usually related to a loss of control of some aspect of life, I think it's fair to say that anxiety is a regular visitor in the midst of lives riddled with severe illness or trauma whether you are a caregiver or the person who is ill. Yep, totally understandable.
But,as common and understandable as it is, for some reason people in said situations often think that there is something wrong with them if they are feeling anxious; like it's a character flaw, or a terrible exhibition of weakness.
It's not.
If your best friend described your situation (as if it was happening to him/her not you), would you think they were weak, or flawed, or ridiculous for feeling anxious? Let me answer for you; No.
Of course not.
But when it's happening to us... well, it's hard. Still, I believe that if we allow ourselves to feel it, and talk about it with others, then the word "anxiety" loses it's power and the feelings that go with it can disappear then too. I'm not talking about total surrender to anxiety, but being able to acknowledge it when it visits can go a long way. You can't get rid of the mouse in the house until you both acknowledge it's there (no matter how much you don't want it to be), and you bait the trap with the cheese (take action to get rid of it). So, how to bait the trap?
Well, one woman I know meets anxiety head on. She is a very brave and wonderful woman who happens to have two kids - one of whom has a condition named Noonan Syndrome. I find her very relatable, a great teacher, knowledgeable, funny and inspiring too. And her children are the cutest sweetest kids...
She recently did a blog post about anxiety that was relieving, refreshing, and too funny too. You should just check out her blog for yourself, but for now I've included an excerpt from it here...
Re Anxiety:
I thought it would go way - the sinking in the pit of my stomach, tight shoulder muscles and sense of impending doom. There's no reason for it to stay. Surely there are other people that Anxiety could be stalking instead of me.
Having my companion last week leading up to Lauren's sleep study was understandable. Now Anxiety has overstayed its welcome. It's like I've had a relative arrive from far away and they've decided they like my home enough to stay longer. The fridge is empty and the bathrooms are a mess and yet they stay.
Anxiety even stepped it up and is now hosting a party. The little turd invited Anticipation, Subconscious Worry, Obsession and the ever present but quiet Sadness to the party. Who knew they'd all be free the same week? I'm fairly certain Lack of Sleep started frosh week and tracked Anxiety down in the parking lot. Anxiety was waiting for someone else but once the word got out, well, you know how the story goes...pictures fall from the walls, tables get broken and the liquor cabinet is empty.
I'm sure they'll get bored eventually. I could always up the rent, disconnect the satellite feed, hide the car keys and buy only whole-grain-organic-no-fat-no-flavour-cardboard-meatless foods.
Or maybe down-grading the Internet connection to dial-up will be sufficient?
Isn't she great? The Sweet One is her moniker. Well, thanks for reading. Hope you can bore anxiety and it's party too:).
Happy trapping!
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