Among the Living

Happy Leap Day! Leap Year must be good for me because last night I ended up sleeping fairly well. Other than my usual seasonal allergy suffering, I was able to draft back to sleep after my usual 3 am wake up call. Still, I started this post with the intention of having something great to say. But as I peck away at the keyboard my mind is wholly focused on a whole lot of nothing.  

 I suppose the only real thought that's crossing my mind is all the traveling I've done over the past few days. You see normally we (my wife and myself) usually venture out of town just once a month or so. Other than that we pick up a few items at our local store, but limit those big out of town purchases to just once a month. It’s more or less a habit we gotten into besides it goes well with the GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) I suffer from. 

 Heading out of my comfort zone can take a toll on someone like me. GAD is a disorder where fear and anxiety overtaken reason and logic; leaving you in a state of paralysis when it comes to leaving your established comfort zone. For those of you that do not suffer from this, it’s hard to describe. It’s like living in a constant state of fear or panic, where your waiting for the next disaster to happen.    

 I suppose the silver lining in all this is that I went out and did it; although our out of town adventures were brief, at least we went. So today I've surprised myself with the fact that I feel like going somewhere even today. Wow. Usually after an outside adventure it takes me a day or two to recover. I suppose all the positive stuff I'm trying to convince you of is finally rubbing off on me? 

 If you have times where your mind has paralyzed your will to be, here is my thought for the day. Don't stop living, it's the worst thing you can do, believe me I know. Little by little we can let Panic and GAD rob us of our lives. The world can be a scary place for us when we place too much value on fear. But even if it's just for a short amount of time, try to get out there and live life among the living.

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