[repost] jwermont rocks

[firecat]

I'm reposting this because the original mistakenly quoted a friends-locked post. The post has now been made public.

My sweetie jwermont made a really moving, compassionate post about living with chronic anxiety. Excerpt:

This was the message I took away from childhood, and it's still lurking there, in the corner of my mind, waiting to hear validation from the outside world. And, this being a macho, bravado-brandishing culture, it never has to wait long. Fear - and especially, taking care of oneself around fear - is profoundly disrespected.

I think what the disrespecters don't realize is how much energy it takes to deal with those feelings when they are constant noise in your head. If a person needs to take a rest after pushing furniture around for hours, or running a marathon, then there should be no shame in a person's taking a rest from holding chronic anxiety at bay for long enough to participate in ordinary life.

Comments

[innerdoggie.livejournal.com]

One odd story about how chronic anxiety saved a man's life is from the WTC disaster. A man who had trouble with anxiety was in his office when the first plane hit. He was told to stay put, not panic, await rescue. Instead he ran down all those flights of stairs, out of the building, down the street. Then the second plane hit and the building collapsed. He lived.