Leap And The Net Will...

Appear? Or maybe not. Anxiety is a funny creature. A small incident gathers more and more strength, and takes on a life of it's own, until it becomes a full-blown anxiety that governs even aspects of your life that seem to have no relationship to the anxiety-inducing situation.

I have weather-related driving anxiety. I've somehow convinced myself that me and my car are ill-equipped to driving in inclement weather. My standard response is to A) not leave the house, B) pray for a snow day and/or C) scope out the situation and have my husband track the weather pattern. Of course, I have never been in a weather-related driving accident! Not only I have not been in such an accident, I've also managed to arrive at a destination safely through inclement weather, just by sheer force of willpower, lots of breathing and white-knuckling my steering wheel. I can only assume that this anxiety comes from overexposure to news stories about 150-car pile-ups. Or not. Who knows?!

But like Will's mother in this month's From Left To Write book,  If I Fall, If I Die, the anxiety started as a small seed, then grew into something larger than life, something that seems irrational even in your own head, and even more so in someone else's head, but somehow, you make yourself believe it is a perfectly reasonably fear or anxiety. My own anxiety has managed to stay under control but what happens when it takes over your life, and renders you incapable of living your life in the most basic of ways; even worse, what happens when it affects those you love the most?

This post was inspired by the novel If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie,about a boy who's never been outside, thanks to his mother's agoraphobia, but ventures outside in order to solve a mystery. Join From Left to Write on January 22nd as we discuss If I Fall, If I Die. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes. This post contains affiliate links.