Anxiety

I don’t remember suffering from anxiety when I was younger.

I remember being able to do new things without stress or worry.

But as I have gotten older, I have developed an anxiety that affects me in very weird ways.

Sometimes, I will get so anxious in a situation, I will get angry or cry.

Sometimes, I will be so anxious, I will just not do the thing I am supposed to be doing.

And sometimes, I don’t realize I am even experiencing anxiety until I realize I am not sleeping because of the crazy dreams I am having.

This week, I was having crazy dreams all week. And I think they were all because I was seeing a new eye doctor for the first time. Same office I have been to for almost my whole life, but my previous eye doc has retired in the last year and so it was a new person this year. My brain was on overdrive all week with stupid questions like “will they treat me the same”, “will they make me get new glasses”, “will they tell me there is something terribly wrong with my eyes”, over and over again.

Of course, everything is fine. I don’t even really need a new prescription so I can keep my really cool frames that I love for another year. But my crazy brain had me not sleeping all week until that appointment. After the appointment, I slept so good and felt so good the next day, I got a bunch of little projects done and still had time to relax.

I don’t have any great conclusion this week. I did all the things to quiet my brain this week and it was still anxious and it is something that I am learning to live with. But, I do think it is very helpful to recognize what is actually happening in my body and brain. I can do things that will help lessen the effects of anxiety on me. And I guess that is half the battle, just recognizing what is going on.

Do any of you suffer from anxiety? And if you do, what do you do to cope?

I wish you all a stress-free week. See you next time.