Goal for the Day: Quiet Your Nerves

As I write this, a thunderstorm is beating down around us. Bertie, like most dogs, doesn’t care much for thunder and, after nervously pacing around and murmuring at me to make it stop, decided to go and hide in the fireplace in the dining room. While I respect his instincts, I don’t know that hiding in the fireplace is the best thing for him to do, so I’ve coaxed him out with one of his new Easter toys and gotten him comfortable on the carpet in my study so that he can sit with me while I work.


Bertie has every right to be nervous about the thunderstorm just as we all have a right to become anxious about the unknown and frightening things which present themselves to us every day. The world is filled with scary and unknown things. We can either hide in the fireplace or we can come out and face them. By facing them, I’m not suggesting that we charge out into the storm. Rather, we can carry on with our daily duties and monitor our own stress levels.

As you begin to feel nervous throughout the day, instead of leaning into the anxiety, examine just why you’re feeling nervous. Knowing the roots of your panic will always help you to quiet your nerves. While you may not be able to erase the anxiety, and while you certainly can’t take away the things which frighten you, you can understand why you’re upset and learn how to cope with it.

By, “keeping calm and carrying on,” you’re do yourself a service. You’re telling yourself that you’re not a slave to anxiety and teaching yourself to be vigilant and self-protective. We’ll never be able to eradicate all of the scary things in the world, but we can always keep them at bay by understanding them and controlling how we react.