When I was in dental school, I remember waking up one morning, suddenly aware that my heart rate was sky high, and I had this terrible sense of dread and anxiety for the day ahead. It was just another normal dental school day.

But in that moment I realised, I woke up every single day like that.

It wasn’t a healthy way to wake.

 

So, as the journey goes, I was given the incredible gift to be able to stay home and rest for an extended period of time.

Initially, it was easy. I didn’t need to be told to rest, I was physically and mentally exhausted. Sleep came easy.

But I remember after a certain period of time passing, those old inclinations to stress and worry and to ‘do’, started creeping in again.

I would worry about what I should be doing, and stress if I wasn’t doing, and be worried in the doing.

It wasn’t a very restful way to live.

 

However, in the process, I started becoming aware of this inner restlessness and turmoil within me. I would start to notice or pinpoint, when I would feel anxious, and what I was thinking at that exact moment I became anxious.

Usually it was to do with people. A general fear or concern of what people would think of me, of thinking I needed to perform to keep people stable and happy and pleased with me again. It was a hard place to be, to no longer be able to please people anymore.

 

But through it, I discovered a new way of living, a new way of being, that didn’t revolve around me thinking I needed to make everyone happy and pleased with me again.

It was freeing.

I found that in this place, a rested mind came easy, creativity came easy. Thoughts and dreams that I had not even allowed myself to think or imagine, were coming easily to me again.

It was a restful and fruitful way to live.

 

I believe there are many people who can relate to this. It’s a very common way to live.

But I believe there is another way, one that doesn’t require stress and fear, restlessness and worry.

Another way that is easy and light and freeing.

I know its a journey, it’s a process. But the reward at the end of it, is so incredibly worth it.