As I have stated many times before, I have a pretty solid case of social anxiety. It affects me on many levels in ways that never occurred to me that were even likely. But there is another, important member of my family that also suffers from anxiety, my son’s dog Cory. Today I want to talk about him and the ways in which we have tried to ease his anxiety.
Calm in a Crisis: A Plus Side to Anxiety
Whenever people discuss anxiety, they typically gravitate to the negatives: the lack of flexibility, moodiness, insomnia, and outbursts over things that other people may find inconsequential, but there is one situation in which a person may actually benefit from an anxiety disorder: an actual emergency.
Surviving the Wave Pool
When I was about seven or eight, my dad took me to a water park for the first time. I wasn’t big on water slides, so I spent most of my time in the wading pools and tide pools. They had a wave machine they called “Breaker Beach.” It was on a gradient, so while the waves were turned off, I went up to the thick red line that none without inner tubes were allowed to cross. my goal was to stand atop of it to see how much taller I was in comparison. I could still touch the bottom and keep my head above water if I stood on my toes, but just barely.