Anxiety Nothing More Than Failure In Advance

“Anxiety is nothing more than repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.” Seth Godin

For the past week, I’ve been crippled with anxiety. I went to the dentist and had a panic attack, the worst panic attack I have ever experienced. I expected to feel back to normal within a few hours but instead found that there was a cloud of anxiety hanging over me, seeping into my skin, entering every aspect of my life. I started to have the “what ifs”. What if I die and never meet my grandkids, what if someone hacks into our bank account and steals all our money, what if I am unable to travel on the upcoming trip, what if my dog dies, what if I can’t write, what if I am never able to walk more than two blocks, and it just kept going on and on snowballing.

Anxiety can be crippling. It is more than stress, it is a physiological reaction of your body to something terrifying. It is the “fight or flight” response that is supposed to be reserved for life-threatening events. There is a release of adrenaline that stays until the threat goes away. What happens when the hormone levels stay elevated? Your mind can get into a cycle of seeing the “what if” and playing that out in the most negative light, causing more adrenaline to be released and perpetuating the cycle until you feel paralyzed with panic. The good news is that you can control the cycle. You can change the “what if” to “so what”.

Remind yourself that you have been able to handle everything that has happened, and will be able to handle what comes next. Remember this feeling is just hormones coursing through your body. They will calm down as the threat calms down.

Be Kind Always

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Plato

Somebody shamed me today for a mistake I made. I tried to tell myself that their shaming didn’t matter, but no matter what I said in my head, my body felt it. I know I did nothing wrong. Perhaps the person that shamed me was having a bad day themselves. Even though I know it’s not logical, my day and well-being were significantly impacted. Remember that some people may be more impacted than intended from your unkind words, for some people it might break them.

Kindness isn’t that hard to extend to everyone. None of us can ever really understand what it is like to live in someone else’s shoes. You don’t know what they’re going through, why they make mistakes, how they’re feeling and how they will be impacted by your actions. So, be kind always. It’s that simple. You may be their only source of kindness.

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“I am not impressed by money, social status, job title. I am impressed by the way someone treats other human beings.”

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“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” - Dalai Lama

I've Got A Dream

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney

I may have been an unusual child. I grew up in a trailer park, spending much of my time laying under our trailer using my trusty dog as a headrest - laying and dreaming, dreaming of what my life would be.

Dreams are wonderful and should never be let go of. As I grew, many of my dreams came to fruition. Some didn’t, and some are still in process. When I feel overwhelmed by my pain, I need to remember I am still that girl. I still have dreams. Along the way I may have been broken in places, but like someone once told me, we are like fine china, cement was placed where we were broken making us even stronger. If that’s true, then I’m pretty strong, capable of making the rest of my dreams come true. And so are you.