Oh sweet solitude! Shelter from social strife,
You have burned me and shamed me into ruined life.
I cast aside your shackles and step into the light.
This anxiety I will tackle, I’m ready for the fight.
Oh warm depression! The only comfort I have known.
You have since chilled me, down to the very bone.
I shake off your gentle slumber and rise from your bed
‘Cause sooner or later you’d leave me for dead.
Dear friend avoidance, the content I have known,
The one who consoled me when I was all alone.
You robbed me of interest in this very world,
Away from you winds carry me, my sails now unfurled.
And to my beloved troubled mind I shall say:
From now on you shall speak in only kind ways.
No longer will I allow you to cast hurtful stones,
Today and on you’ll work for me and strengthen these brittle bones.
Welcome new acquaintance, thou who art love,
The one I will embrace, an angel from above.
Show me how to care as others care for me,
Show me how to love myself, wellness’ key.
By Jeff D., age 36.
The fourth line in my poem bugs me a little now that I have matured; it’s been ten years since I wrote this. The truth is fighting my anxiety didn’t work. Accepting and not being afraid of being anxious is what truly freed me. I do things all the time that trigger anxiety, but it’s OK, and because I see it as OK the anxiety has no power over me.