“The loveliest people are the ones who have been burnt and broken and torn at the seams,

yet still send their open hearts into the world to mend with love,

again,

and again,

and again.

You must allow yourself to feel your life while you’re in it.”

– Victoria Erickson

Anxiety has been a companion to me for many, many years, but lately it’s wanted to become a little more close than I’d like.  Suffice it to say, anxiety likes me more than I like it.  In fact, I’d like to break up.  I’m working on it.  In the meantime, there’s a lot of feeling going on, and most of it is uncomfortable.  Instead of numbing out I am trying to embrace the last line of that quote – to allow myself to feel my life while I’m in it.

I’m also letting this phrase Ben has said to me since the very beginning of him becoming familiar with my anxiety struggles to echo through my head:

“It’ll pass.  It always does.”

So Ben.  So few words yet so much meaning.

* Photo credit Eliza Truitt Photography of my dear, fearless Henry.