What Defines Me?

Do you ever feel like sometimes you’ve dug a hole so deep you can’t get out of it? I mean metaphorically. Side note- in reality I dug a really deep hole one time in my grandma and grandpa’s backyard. They just wanted me to be happy and digging a hole made me happy, so voila! I got to dig a giant hole! Dog-Grandparents are the best! Okay, back to my point.

Sometimes I think we get pretty comfortable being "unwell" (depressed, anxious, etc), get fearful to get better, so keep digging a deeper and deeper hole to fit the description of our symptoms. If we were to get better, a little part of our identity would be lost, so we get stuck in a never-ending-loop of unhappiness. Sometimes a small shift in wording really matters. I could say "I'm an anxious dog" or I could say "I'm a dog who struggles with anxiety." Putting that "who struggles with" says it's just a part of me right now. It can change. I can change. I'm not suggesting I make all of my own struggles, my physiological response to the environment around me is a real thing. It's not just "in my head"... it's in my body too! When I get anxious my heart starts racing, my brain goes blank, my stomach starts to hurt, and all of a sudden I'm in fight or flight mode. Those are real things. However, they don't have to define me.

To be honest, in the last month, I've been doing much better (maybe it was all the tooth-brush eating). If anything, my brother Cohen has been more anxious than me! Mom says he's getting older and his personality seems to be changing a bit. I just see it as an opportunity to be a support. It's pretty fun helping someone else.

Once I separate myself from my symptoms, I start to notice the small joys in the world. For instance- my anxiety symptoms 100% subside when it snows. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SNOW! I love eating the snow, licking the snow, and frolicking in the snow. I basically have no cares in the world during my snow-experience. I'm not an "anxious dog" when it snows. I'm a dog who is having the time of his life!

I'm not suggesting we are 100% the cause of our own misery, or that depression and anxiety miraculous go away if we insert some words between our name and the symptom. I'm just suggesting taking a little bit of space, re-evaluating what defines us, and adding other descriptors may give a little bit of freedom. Getting better doesn't have to be so scary. See my video below! I hope you find a little bit of joy in my tail-wagging-silliness!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp9mcptBg90/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

(We're not sure how to make links work yet, so if this doesn't work- please go to our Instagram and check out the video)