Things No One Tells You

All that I know is that I’m breathing. All I can do is keep breathing. All we can do is keep breathing. All we can do is keep breathing. All we can do is keep breathing.
All I can do is keep breathing.
-Ingrid Michaelson

I’ve learned there are things in life I cannot control.

Nashvile traffic. Doctor wait times. Weather.  Death. The perceptions of other. Our bulldog’s stubbornness.

In those uncontrolable  moments, my breathing is the only thing I can control. Taking several deep breaths doesn’t solve any of those uncontrollable things listed above, but it allows me to refocus and gain control of myself. And I’ve learned, when I’m in control, there’s really nothing in life I can’t overcome.

As I was sitting in an uncontrollable environment earlier this week, I began to panick. This overwhelming anxiety engulfed me. I literally felt the room was enclosing in on me. I tried to focus on concrete things like my black flats or the yellow hair of the woman seated in front of me. Sadly, the strategy that calmed me during the loud, overpowering Sunday services at church, failed me. Sweat beads formed on my lower back and upper lip. I literally felt I had nowhere to go. You know that feeling when you’re in the middle lane of traffic that hasn’t moved in 10 minutes and you just finished your 32oz water-filled Yeti?!  Yeah, well that’s exactly how I felt.

Just prior to being completely submerged by my anxiety, I closed my eyes and breathed in several deep breaths. When I opened my eyes, I felt calm and composed. I literally felt like someone had shaken me while whispering, “Get it together; falling apart is not an option. You will survive this…you have no other option.”

I did survive. When surviving is our only option, it’s crazy the lengths we will go to survive.

I’ll breath in all the deep breaths if it means more control. It’s simple. Like Ingrid says, All we can do is keep breathing.

#thingsnoonetellsyou