If you struggle with anxiety you know how debilitating, how scary, and how lonely it can be. If you have family or friends that struggle with anxiety, you know how hard it is at times to reassure, to try to help them see “logic”, and often how helpless you can feel as you watch your loved ones struggle. I fit in both categories! I have always struggled with anxiety and worry and I have loved ones that do as well. At Therapy With Heart, our therapists are seeing clients of all ages struggling with heightened anxiety from all the angst in our world in the last year or so.
It’s important to recognize all the gifts anxiety provides in addition to the obvious struggle. What if we were able to have gratitude for our anxiety? Here are a few positive aspects:
I’m so grateful my 16-year-old daughter was willing to share a poem she wrote for a school assignment in this newsletter. Juliana is a complex, funny, smart, brave, and anxious teenager. But as you can see in her poem, there are many layers to her anxiety, both positive and full of love and also dark and scary. We embrace all of it and find ways to honor and accept the anxiety while managing and keeping it from taking over.
Because
Since you asked, I’ll tell you why I’m so anxious
Because the world is unexpected
Because life is unpredictable
Because the things on the news are real
Because the dark is scary
Because I can’t be everywhere at once
Because I am too small
Because I have so many important things in my life
Because you are sick
Because Quinten is too friendly
Because my life is so good
Because I love you!
Because I have great friends
Because I love what I do
Because I can’t monitor everything
Because I can’t control everything
Because THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON
Because I have too much to do
Because I don’t want to die
Because the outside world isn’t safe!
by Juliana Skye Thomas, age 16
This Post Written By:
Rachel Thomas, LMFT – Therapy With Heart
8737 E. Via De Commercio, Suite 200
Scottsdale, Arizona 85258
Phone: (480) 888-5380
Fax: (480) 203-2881
Email: therapywithheart@gmail.com
Website: https://therapywithheart.com