It's starting to take over her life. Spiders, alarms, tattle-tales, what people are thinking, what happens if, what happens next, what happens....
Her wise oldest sister (who also has anxiety--we have a lucky genetic disposition) pointed out something, and I just can't stop thinking about it--she's never alone with her own thoughts.
Society is fast-paced, and our family is, too. She never just stops to watch the grass grow.
Ever.
She can't self-sooth. Because she's never had to. (This is a good problem to have--she has so many around her that want to help her when she's sad. She is a child who knows that she's loved.) But she needs to learn to comfort herself, and how to be alone.
What have we done!?! I think I understand now why my mom keeps beating herself up about realizing that she needed to teach me to play in the mud because I never, ever got dirty (I still don't like to get dirty or sticky. So sue me.) It doesn't need to be perfect to be OK.
Still and all, I'm going to have to teach the Caboose to watch the clouds roll by. We could all use a little lesson in slowing down.
Possibly we would all feel better if we breathe a little more.
Without background music, and electronics.
Just be. Like kids should just naturally do.
Instead of reading about it in Calvin and Hobbes. (Reading is good, but not if it's the only way we experience real life.)
If the only way to stop and smell the roses is to schedule it in the calendar between therapy and soccer, then so be it. Maybe if we do it enough, we won't need so much therapy!
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