Today I’m full of anxiety. I’m scared for the world and what’s happening in it. I’m scared that I’m not going to make a difference… But I want you to come away from this at least knowing that I am on your side. I am rooting for you because I struggle too. Mental health is not something that we talk about often enough and sometimes, “How are you?” is the hardest question to answer. I want this to be a place where we can admit that I’m not okay/fine/good whatever socially acceptable answer that we’ve all come to expect. If you cry in your car, if you stare into the face of your inadequacies and think that you will never be good enough, if you scream, if you can’t breathe, if you freeze, if you get locked into the never-ending repeating thoughts that sometimes don’t let you leave… I am here with you. I am fighting with you. You don’t have to fight this alone.
Everything Screams
This time of year
makes me think of winters
and fear, that I’m going
to crash not just from going
too fast, but I’m heading
that way—headlong, sliding
on ice, I can’t think fast
enough to keep up
with my mind:
Everything is connected
on this big ball of string,
my memories, my fears,
what happened yesterday,
who said what to me when and why,
I over-analyze
hyperventilate,
I’m late, I’m early,
I don’t have enough
Lines, I want so many things
all at the same time.
I just wanted to see you
Today, I don’t want to be alone
with these thoughts
that don’t leave me
alone, I don’t know
how to explain this uncertainty,
This hold, this pressure,
these fingers around my throat
this anxiety,
Is mine.
—
Check out other authors writing about anxiety:
http://hellopoetry.com/words/515/anxiety/poems/
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/poems-read-anxiety
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/story-of-my-anxiety
https://allpoetry.com/poems/about/Anxiety
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/12/a-brutally-raw-insight-into-social-anxiety-poem/
—
Comment or leave poems (or both!) below I would love to get the discussion going. What advice and opinions do you have about seasonal depression (Seasonal Affective Disorder or Anxiety in general)? This time of year when the days get shorter and it’s so much colder really get to me! Other than antidepressants, what are some ways for people to deal with this kind of thing naturally? I write, and it helps to acknowledge my feelings and provide a venue for them to become tangible.