Saying Hello & No

Declining anxiety’s invitation

Photo by Vladimir Kramer on Unsplash

In the shower the other day, a dark thought threatened to snowball into full sky-is-falling, bottom-is-dropping-out anxiety. I don’t remember what it was, just that it was more in the realm of the ridiculous than the real. My chest tightened and my mind revved for the avalanche.

Then something else rose up, unsure at first, soon steady and deliberate. It said:

Hello, anxious thought. I’m not going to follow you down that rabbit hole.

So, I didn’t. Later that same day, I greeted another niggling thought with a similar refrain.

I could follow you down the rabbit hole, but I won’t.

So simple and straightforward, right? Sure, just not always easy. Because the part of my brain that wants me to chase fanged rabbits into unsolvable underground mazes is stronger a lot of the time. It’s had more practice, after all. And it will pull me under again at some point.

But it’s a relief to know that it won’t always drag me down, that I have tools, too, and defenses.