Mind and Body

Ask me how it feels to live with anxiety and I can talk all day. Ask me how it feels to have "the blues" or "the blahs" and I'd tell you I am learning. And I don't like it.

Anxiety has been present in my life for as long as I can remember. But the way I have been feeling lately is VERY NEW. My doctor says its likely related to a change in my progesterone and estrogen levels. Normal for a pregnant person. I've been given the encouragement that by week 26 or so, my levels should even out and I should feel the "blahs" start to lift.

It's become so real to me just how linked our body and minds are. I'll give hormones some of the credit for my recent mood but I can't discount how not feeling physically well affects me too. I have definitely noticed that when my body feels yucky, my mind follows suit. Well this stinks! I am hanging in here, with constant reminders to myself that this too shall pass and in the end, I'll have a precious gift from God to hold in my hands. Some days that's enough, some days it isn't. The days that I struggle tend to be the days that I don't answer the phone, don't call friends to chat, don't respond quickly, if at all, to text messages and it takes all my energy to just "handle business."

I feel fortunate to have a group of girlfriends that pay attention and recognize when I am having one of my days. My husband also falls into this category. Hagie is quick to pick up on if I am being too quiet or I am just not acting like myself. The hard part is it's difficult to explain to others when I really don't quite understand it myself. I guess what's nice is that to my husband and to my "girls" I don't have to explain, they just know. There lies the comfort.

A shout out to my hubby and my girls for recognizing when I'm not myself and for reaching out when I won't.