Anxiety... you know, that all too familiar sensation of feeling like you want to crawl out of your skin? Tight belly. Short breath. Panic. Scratching at your skin, picking at scabs, pulling at eyebrow hairs, the feeling of being unsettled. Maybe you're fidgeting, biting your nails unconsciously, tapping your leg.

Even after over a decade of studying various types of healing modalities, sacred plant medicine retreats, IFS sessions and learning about regulating my nervous system, I can still feel anxious.

While I prefer not to pick at my skin, I radically accept that transforming life long subconscious patterns and beliefs take time, patience, courage, and awareness. Presence.

So when I notice this anxious part showing up, I turn towards it and offer it space to share its message with me.

What does it want me to know about itself?

What is it protecting?

Why does it feel like it has to be so loud?

I usually dance, journal and sing as I set the intention to understand this part of me better so I can build a healthier relationship with it, not necessarily make it go away, because my anxiety has fueled a lot of amazing creative projects and has let me know when I'm living too much in the future.

In order to befriend my anxiety I let it know that it's okay to be here, that there is nothing to prove, I am safe to be me, that I can take one baby step at a time, that everything is okay, and that i'm enough and i'm doing enough.