TARA FLETCHER: Beautiful day, music perfect prescription for anxiety issue

I recently had a routine doctors visit. While I was with my doctor, I mentioned that I was having anxiety attacks (something that had not happened in many years).

What’s strange is that I am the happiest I’ve been my entire life. When I told her, I was so embarrassed that I cried. I felt weak … not a feeling I’m accustomed to. She said people who have had serious trauma in their lives often either don’t feel deserving of happiness or are subconsciously waiting for something to go wrong.

We got back on track, talking about what the visit was scheduled for, and she asked me to come back in the morning for labs. The next day I sat down to have my blood drawn, had a major anxiety attack and almost fainted.

WTH!

I work in Tifton and live in Albany, so the drive to work gives me plenty of time to think. The day after the visit with the doctor, I watched people weaving in and out of traffic, blowing their horns, even getting into accidents, in their rush to get to wherever they were going. I thought about all of the problems in the world and how hard life can be. I worried about my children and grandchildren, and I complained to myself about this long drive so early every day.

The next morning, the sky was as beautiful as I’d ever seen it. The smell of freshly dug peanuts filled the car. James Taylor came on the radio … “In my mind I’m goin’ to Carolina …” and I thought, if I hadn’t been up driving to work, I would have missed this perfect moment. It was a great reminder that happiness is a choice, and even though there’s so much hate, violence and conflict in the world, there are so many more good things.

Since that day, I rarely allow my mind to wander to negative places. Instead, I think about the simple/amazing things that we tend to take for granted. And, as usual, I spend as much time as I can listening to music.

It’s estimated that 40 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders. I still have occasional anxiety, but with a prescription of positive thinking and a heavy dose of my favorite music, I think that number will soon be 39,999,999.