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Dear Anxiety,
I want to break up with you. Now, breaking up with you isn’t going to be easy—God knows that I’ve tried therapy with you, and I’m on medication right now to deal with you—but I think it’s time for the two of us to part ways. I would like to say that we had some good times, what with you thinking that you were protecting me and all. As it turns out, buddy, suits of armors are not the best attire to live in, and nobody likes a girl who can’t ever leave her tower or climb over her wall. For a while, you made me live like a fairytale princess, protecting me from the demons, dragons, and witches that lived outside, while only letting those with the purest and noblest intentions past my walls. And for a while, the two of us lived like this.
To be honest, you made me feel like this a lot of the time… (Photo credit: Pexels.com)
But then I realized something: you were the dragon because you were the one keeping me guarded. A princess can’t destroy her towers and her walls to let princes and knights and other princesses in if the dragon is going to turn them all into cinders anyway, can she? Anxiety, old chum, I’m sure you meant well. I’m sure you didn’t mean to leave me a sobbing wreck at the thought of ever having to introduce myself to new people, for me to always stand at the outskirts of the party or a gathering, never quite brave enough to fit in with everybody else. For a long time, I was afraid of going to a restaurant because I was scared of ordering my own food! These things were all my doing, that I know. But, I also know that I would have never learned those things if a certain someone hadn’t taught them to me first. If you hadn’t taught them to me, perhaps I wouldn’t have to dump you. The two of us could have had a nice relationship, where you popped in when it was actually smart for you to stop by. Instead, you plagued me every hour, every minute, every second of my life. To say that I’m sick of it would be the understatement of the millennium.
So, Anxiety, we had a good twenty-year run. You might say we had our ups, but in my opinion, we’ve mostly had our downs. And so, while I know the dragon won’t ever die completely, I know that the princess can guide people past the dragon, to the gate that’s in the wall and to the ladder that will let people into her tower.
You might be scared of letting people in, but I am not going to let myself live that way anymore.
Lots of love,
Megan
P.S.: Look, I’m sure you can put your panicking skills to good use. Why not try scaring people at a haunted house? I’m certain that they’ll need someone like you over there.