As my community of subscribers grows, I am honored and thrilled to be able to share more of my musings with you all.
Here’s what I’ve been pondering lately.
I spent many years believing I was weak and inferior because my brain isn’t wired in a “typical” way. However, as discussed in a previous post, my former psychiatrist helped me see the strength I possessed in navigating this world with anxiety and OCD. And in yet another post, I shared how my current therapist challenges me to “embrace the and” by allowing myself to feel two conflicting feelings at the same time without attempting to downplay, diminish, or deny one of them.
These two lenses for looking at my life have certainly been helped me to acknowledge more of my achievements and find more acceptance for who I am. Lately I have felt this deep sense of knowing that my anxiety, my sensitivity, and even my obsessive nature are not just attributes to acknowledge and accept, but to actually celebrate. Wacky right? Hear me out, though. What if it’s not that I’ve achieved great things despite my anxiety, sensitivity, and obsessive nature but BECAUSE of them.
When I use THIS lens to view my life, I am able to piece together how certain traits or behaviors that some may deem negative are actually the reason why:
I have such strong relationships with people
I find it easy to connect with others
I had success in my career as a teacher
I can write or create content that resonates with people
I take steps to be a better mother than I even imagined I would be
I choose to be a lifelong learner
I advocate for radical change & true liberation/equality for all
I unpack my own role in upholding white supremacy and dismantle it inside of myself
When I use this lens to view my life, I am able to reconcile the fact that while therapy and medication certainly do help me function in a more productive way overall, maybe just maybe I should also nurture my anxiety, sensitivity, and obsessive nature - speak to them lovingly and allow them to run amuck at times. When I feel anxiety about the future, I often double down on my healing efforts, self-improvement, and education. When I react in a sensitive manner to things that happen to or around me, my empathy and understanding grows and I am better able to express my truth and comprehend the truth of others. When I get obsessed with something, I talk about it a lot and thus create an awareness, which could potentially help other people.
So, like, what if those things…they’re my super powers?
I feel like if you subscribe to this newsletter or you just happened to stumble upon this particular post today and made it all the way to the end - perhaps you too have super powers. I encourage you to think about that the next time you feel you should shrink yourself or hide some part of who you are.
And for what it’s worth…I think anxious people are actually the best kind of people.
Of course that is not to say that people who are not anxious are not lovely as well, but…my newsletter is not titled “The Never Anxious Newsletter” :)
I’m so glad you’re in this space with me.
I hear you! Hmmm, super powers for sure. Looking at it in a new way. Good for you and for me.
OMG what a great perspective! Thank you.