The anxiety monster

Don't you hate it when you feel anxious for no reason? I mean, you can always *find* a reason to be anxious. So, you're sitting there, with a roiling stomach, and you say, I must be feeling this for a reason. So you go down the laundry list. Kids? Husband? Laundry? Bills? Church?

I haven't heard from the school yet, maybe that's what's causing it. Or maybe I just need to eat more breakfast.

My 8 y.o. son has this, too. We're working together to come up with a way for him to control it on his own. The "deep breaths, think of a happy place" plan wasn't working, so yesterday, I was hit with inspiration.

Boggarts.

Boggarts are creatures in Harry Potter that don't have power in and of themselves; their power is to take the form of what you're most afraid of.

To beat them is simple -- laugh.

So, Son and I went through an exercise. He visualized "the anxiety monster" (apparently, it looks something like a shock-tart creature with a lightening spine) and then we talked about what would make the a.m. look funny. First, he put him with frilly underwear on his head. Then he had him sing and dance. He saw the monster look embarrassed and then he watched him shrink, shrink, shrink. He said he felt much better afterwards.

Well, I have something good to think about -- last night was a roaring success. We had our first "Views and Viewpoints" movie night at church. Showed "Outfoxed" for free, sold popcorn for $1 a bag. Had 25 people there and a quarter of them were guests. Whoo-hoo! Charged $2 per child for babysitting, though I'm hoping we'll get to where the money made from refreshments will pay for babysitting.

Haven't heard from the seminary and I know what the anxiety is from. I need to call them and see what my status is. They've cashed my registration fee check, so I know my application got there.

Will wait to get the mail, then call.