Anxiety Tool Box

It's normal. It really is.
Stress. Depression. Panic. Unease. 
It gets worse with that slow, mellow, drowning on the daily. 
It gets worse when we aren't in control.
When we have no sanctuary.
Nothing to look forward to.
It's when we're misunderstood.
It's when we're exhausted but can't sleep.
It's when our mind doesn't turn off.

At night.
I lie awake.
​Trying to come to terms.
Trying to control what happens next by thinking about it endlessly.
Sometimes my heart beat won't slow.
Sometimes my mind won't just go
To sleep.

They should put me in AA.
My hereditary marks me with Allergies and Anxiety.
Allergies I've fought with healing foods and cleansing.
Anxiety rears it's head when I'm fending
off the daily demons.
When I have no control.
Nothing to look forward to.
And nothing to hold.

Our culture has founded this feeling.
By aggressively speaking:
"SUCCEED SUCCEED SUCCEED"
"DO IT ALL. DO IT ALL. DO IT ALL."

Wendell Berry comes in beautifully 
And says,
"When despair for the world grows in me 
and I wake in the night at the least sound 
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, 
I go and lie down where the wood drake 
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. 
I come into the peace of wild things 
who do not tax their lives with forethought 
of grief. I come into the presence of still water. 
And I feel above me the day-blind stars 
waiting with their light. For a time 
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."

We need to gather up a tool box
And fend off the thoughts 
When they become all-consuming
When they steal our joy
And our sleep

We need to plan adventures
Things to look forward to
We need to meditate
Take baths
Read books
Write poems
Take herbs to support us
Eat food to stabilize us
Go into the wilderness
Get away from everyone
Love ourselves
Let others love us

Anxiety is hard to combat. Sometimes our circumstances are unavoidable but with a tool box in place we can support our bodies through it.

{I've created two herbal supports for Anxiety and have a third for Depression on the way. The mind is what fascinates me the most and I plan on specializing in Nutritional Therapy, Herbalism and Poetry Therapy for those who suffer from the debilitating aspects of Anxiety. You're not alone…not even close.}
​