In the first three days of the week I had the sum total of 14 hours of sleep. That’s about 10 hours less than normalish, and way less than the ideal. It wasn’t because Potamus has been sleeping poorly, he’s doing good despite his teething pain, it’s that I’ve felt the rise of anxiety once again. I haven’t yet figured out why I get these moments of utter stuckness in the anxiety loop. I know I begin ruminating, literally obsessing, over whatever the anxiety-trigger is, and the spiral goes on until I fall asleep from utter exhaustion.
I know what I could do and it’s not working. I’m on meds. I do relaxation exercises. I get up and walk around. I tell Boof I’m anxious. I practice yoga regularly. And the anxiety is still there. It hangs around despite the sunshine. It lingers in back alleys of my mind, smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and wearing a faded leather jacket he probably picked up at the Goodwill. And then, just as soon as it comes, it goes. I get good sleep a few more nights, and it comes back. I just can’t figure it out and I know that in trying to figure it out I’m trying to control it…to say if XYZ happens then I will do ABC and the anxiety will go away. But I haven’t figured out the magic formula, and so I wonder….
What would it be like if I just accepted that the anxiety will be there, and I don’t know when it will come or go, but my life won’t be free from it. Would that help? Or is trying to use mindfulness once again trying to control the anxious spinning thoughts? And, if I am to just accept the anxiety, how do I go about doing it?
boof & monk-monk 
I like how you made a character out of anxiety! You could perhaps try to welcome it like an odd neighbor who comes around at less than ideal times and hangs around out of pure boredom. Treat Anxiety as a person, why not? Get out of bed and make a cup of rooibos tea and you could try talking to Anxi while drawing (doing something non-verbal)for example.
I like the odd neighbor image! Maybe I’ll try that 🙂
anything is worth a try if you ask me! I don’t know if I could welcome it like an old friend, but maybe accepting it would at least help you not resent it so much?
Yeah, maybe not like an old friend…maybe like an annoying little sibling? 😛
Anxiety can be so uncomfortable. I’ve been using rescue remedy flower essence (made by Bach?) and I think that has a placebo effect. I also try to chant. I really like “om tare tuture ture soha” (you can look it up on youtube if you aren’t familiar with how it is chanted or how it sounds). I’ve done it so much that it does seem to have a medicinal effect when I am highly anxious. This past week was particularly bad, awful no good anxious. Sometimes nothing helps. But sooner or later it always passes. There is something Pema Chodron said about accepting the emotions and it becomes like this rapture of some sort. . . can’t recall her exact words, but it made a lot of sense. Maybe you can google that too while you’re at it! Anyhoo, big hugs and love to you!!