If you’re already prone to panic attacks, knowing you are about to be confined to a small space for a set number of hours will set off some wicked circular logic: I am going to be on a plane for seven hours. What if I have a panic attack on the plane? Will I yell? […]
Finding Balance
List of Things That Are Still Here, After the Basement Clean-Out
Two 42-gallon trash bags went to the Purple Heart Donation Center. One more to the dumpster. This, after a grueling basement declutter session, in which I applied June’s Tennis Ball Test any time I felt myself gripping an unwanted item to my chest, heading down a rabbit hole of what-ifs. Here’s what I was left with: Neon pink […]
How to Fail at Surfing
Today I drove to a New Jersey beach at a ludicrously early hour, ensuring there wouldn’t be many other surfers. I can’t steer. Yet. I stood on my first wave less than 18 months ago. That was in warm, sunny Costa Rica, at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp. You must drop everything and go there, actually. Find […]
Panic Hack: Powerful Objects Can Calm Dogs and People (Really)
As I’ve been writing more about anxiety and panic—for dogs and humans—I’ve been talking about it and thinking about it more, too. Something has emerged from all those conversations and ponderings: a million little tactics we come up with to cope. Ask anyone about this, whether they have a dog who’s scared of the vacuum […]
How to Teach a Dog to Come: Make a Vocab List
June’s 7-to-9-month hormone surge (blerg) and her small bouts of increased courage (yay!) are leading to a little defiance issue. You know the one. I say, “June come!” a command I taught obsessively when she was a scared, squirmy puppy, one I used to show off to my friends. She was so cute when she […]
How a Dragonfly can Help Those With Anxiety
I used be apprehensive of any dragonfly that got too close. As a kid, I’d see a few darting along the tops of the hedges, but avoid them. They’re so big for bugs. You would not assume this was helpful for anxiety. But a dragonfly is a great spirit animal for the anxious. Then, after […]
