“Leda, do you want to drown?” Mom yelled. “Come here, now!”
I was terrified whenever the water rose above my waist, her screams warning us to stay near the water’s edge. It happened every time we went to Lynnhaven Beach in Virginia.
Mom, herself, had never learned to swim, although she grew up in a small town near the Atlantic Ocean in Puerto Rico. Born in 1923, she experienced natural tragedies, like the hurricane in which the family lost all their possessions. Decades afterwards, apprehension of the ocean passed on to her offspring. Read more
I know it sounds a little strange saying “yes” to anxiety, but so often it is easier to stuff issues away rather than face them head on. That was the relationship between me and my anxiety. It would crop up, catch me by surprise, and I would shout, “No, no, no!” And this became the pattern of my behavior… get anxious, get annoyed that I’m anxious, reject it, and fail to deal with it. Something had to change between us. Someone had to give, and that someone was me. Read more
