Anxiety

Anxiety greets me before the rise of dawn,

A quiet war waged while the world sleeps on.

My mind runs marathons I never planned,

Chasing each fear til it’s out of hand.

It speaks in questions that circle my head,

Of things undone and words left unsaid.

It tightens my chest with invisible thread,

Convincing my heart of dangers ahead.

I move through my days wearing practiced calm,

A steady voice; an open palm.

But beneath that smile, so carefully worn,

Is a soul exhausted, frayed, and torn.

Some days it’s heavy, a weight on my spine,

Each breath a task; each moment a climb.

Other days it hums like a low dull ache,

A constant reminder I’m trying to shake.

I replay conversations; rewrite the past,

Hold onto moments that never last.

I fear the future; I question the now,

Unsure of when, or why, or how.

Yet even here, in the thick of the fight,

I search for sparks of steady light.

A slower breath; a softer view,

Proof I am more than the fears I knew.

I learn that courage is quiet and small,

Not the absence of fear, but standing at all.

That healing is messy, not straight or fast,

And progress is counted in moments, not pasts.

So I sit with my thoughts and let them pass by,

No longer demanding that I ask them why.

Anxiety walks with me, but I lead,

Learning to trust my own heart’s speed.

I am not broken, though some days I bend,

I am still right here still, again and again.

And even with fear gripping tight inside,

I choose to keep living , breathing, and trying.

©️ Wonderland Wanderess 2026