Anxiety Creeps - NaPoWriMo Day #5

Anxiety Creeps

Anxiety creeps
in moments of gladness,
in moments of calmness,
in moments of silence.

It steals joy—
this thief of happiness—
and leaves you questioning
the strength of the steel tethers
that connect you to the components
that make up a life well-lived.

Where you used to
sleep soundly,
you wake.
Where you would have
laughed loudly,
you cry.
Where you could have
reveled wildly,
you slink back.
You miss out,
you skip out,
you dip out.

But you also learn the skill of resilience.
You adopt coping skills that should be instinctive.
You eventually morph from the screaming victim
into the beaming superhero who saves themselves.
And along the way, you may help a few others
who are drowning in their own fears and despair,
not realizing that there's no water at all
and an abundance of fresh air.

Anxiety creeps,
but fear of the fear
is what keeps you
here instead of there.