I had a scare last night thanks to Hunter (see photo), a world-class sprinter. He slipped out the front door and took off on an epic journey through a new and exciting neighborhood as my father and I slowly, methodically stalked him in the dark of night until cornering him on a neighbor’s porch.
It was a revealing incident, a test of my ability to handle a stressful, potentially traumatic situation. A few years ago I might have panicked and either frozen or run blindly through the night for a dog I couldn’t hope to catch. I didn’t and that’s a win, something to celebrate
Aside from the obvious danger to Hunter, it was an especially stressful situation for me due to a childhood trauma. As a child – not even ten – I was walking through my grandparent’s neighborhood when a car struck a small dog and then unintentionally backing over the dog again. For years and years I leaved in fear that our family dog – Blondie – would be hit because she had free reign to run through the neighborhood. In fact, I remember going to be anxious because I knew she was out for a nightly run. Once I ran after her and in the process nearly chased her into a a car. I was in full-blown panic mode.
But not last night and that is a sign of progress. I kept my head, reminded myself during the chase that there was only so much I could do, and was prepared to walk away from the chase until morning. Thankfully, the 30-minute chase ended happily right across the street with Hunter happy as could be.
So what small victories (or big) have you achieved in battling anxiety?
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