“Don’t Be Scared, Be Aware”

Don’t BE Scared Be Aware

This post is not meant to diagnose, treat, or save you from mental illness, if you or someone you love is in danger, please get help. You can text HOME to 741741 to be connected with a crisis counselor. I personally have. You can also call or text 988 for suicide and crisis help.
http://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts

This is a term I use for my children very often. I tell them while clapping the syllables in the words. I use it very often when they are feeling anxious, nervous, or in anticipation of something. It works for us for the looper line (drop off to school), getting ready for a big event (like a party or a wedding) and before something that they naturally see as dangerous to them (like playing/sitting near the fire pit). However, this term does not just apply to them; I use it to soothe myself as well. It helps very much to calm my anxiety, fear, worry, anticipation, procrastination, moments where I zone out, etc. By reminding myself and my children that we do not have to fear everything in the moment, we can begin to then move forward. Do my children often hate the clapping? Yes. Does the clapping work in every setting? No. However, the mantra (the meaning) of the words together make sense to our family.

For example, if we are getting ready to go to school and we have to stay calm and centered; but one person has a substitute, one person has gym shoes, and one person is just overall not feeling “well”, we remind ourselves of: “DONT BE SCARED, BE AWARE”, and we say it out loud. To some, I am sure it seems like we are yelling, sometimes in my head I actually am, but it works. If there is a home improvement project in the house that needs to be worked on, albeit a water heater, I repeat this statement over and over inside my mind. I let it come forth and soothe me to a place that doesn’t seem so scary. I use this to focus on the task at hand; the gas, electrical, and water line for reference to the water heater. Because, is it my OCD counting those three things in my head? Or is it the knowledge that my father instilled in me long ago? Or his father perhaps. How long have I been worried about these three elements coming together: fire, water and air?

Personally, I have been fascinated by those three elements for a very long time. Actually, I am getting off topic with the title of this post. “Don’t be scared, be aware” I say in my head. I tell myself not to let those three things run together; to not let the tornados in Ohio, Wildfires in California or hurricanes in the Carolina’s scare me. I try and vow to avoid the political stand points, the fights between humans and the (…….I just spaced out….) and the incineration of the planet earth doom me into submission. Do I still catastrophize? Yes. Do I still worry? Yes. But overall, my true hope is for the better. That can sound “cheezy” when put together: my wish is for a better planet, time, universe. But my email was and always has been “WhereDreamsGo”, it has since evolved into Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta, but it is still what I hope in my heart and why I gave myself that nickname: to dream of a better life beyond the one I see in front of me.

“Don’t be scared, be aware” could be made into T-Shirts, slogans, nick names, gamer tags, all accounts and more? Sure. However, that is not it’s intended purpose; it is for me personally and in my everyday life to be used to keep my anxiety at bay. Will this work for everyone? Maybe. Will it somehow cure all worries? Possibly. Can it impact a generation? Perhaps. Personally, I love to ponder the possibilities.

-A Manic Monday