Spoofhound Thursday Thoughts: Invisible Battles

Spoofhound Thursday Thoughts

My dad spent a lot of time worrying.

As a farmer and rancher, he worried about the weather, beef prices, when the baler/tractor/stock truck broke down and how much it would cost to fix and maybe, just maybe he’d get lucky and be able to repair it himself.

My dad also died from a massive heart attack at the age of 61.

So, yeah, I learned early on not to worry about things that are out of my control. Stressing over the “What ifs?” in life does me no favors. I’ll cross that bridge if I happen to wander up to it and not a minute sooner.

Maintaining a certain Zen-like attitude is important to me. It’s simply how I’m wired.

So many others aren’t as blessed. I have several friends who battle anxiety. Every day, simple tasks have the potential to invite struggle. It’s debilitating. It’s often paralyzing. And it’s important for society to understand the depth of its reach. You don’t “get over it.” You don’t “let it go.” It’s not that easy. That’s simply how THEY are wired.

And it’s often not any easier for our children.

It's vital to society's success to recognize anxiety and provide resources to support it. Children face classroom anxiety in so many different ways: grades, separation anxiety, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, feeling left out or not fitting in. Often anxiety is mistaken for other things like ADHD or kids just being troublemakers (Source: www.childmind.org).

Providing resources to teachers and staff members so they can address anxiety in the classroom is very important. And each of us can learn to be a little more patient, a little kinder, a little more understanding to those fighting battles invisible to us but real to them.

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