Editor’s Corner: Repeated stress and column

Caution: Repeat column: But it’s happening again! How are you feeling this week?

It’s three in the morning and you’re wide awake. The walls are closing in around you, and suddenly you can’t breathe. You take a deep breath - attempting to fill your lungs with air - hoping to stop the pain in your chest. Your bones begin to chill and you break out into a cold sweat. Your hands are shaking... then everything begins to spin.

In your confusion, you try to stay calm, yet you’re out of control. You try to focus on prayer, yet you are too weak to call His name. There seems to be no explanation or no cure. You’re scared for your life, yet you wish the end would come soon. And, the worst part of all - you can’t just make it stop. You can’t talk yourself out of it. And, even if you could, you certainly don’t trust your own decisions. You’re mad at the world, yet you can’t stop crying.

You feel so incredibly bad that you know you must have some fatal disease. When the doctor says you are having anxiety attacks as a result of stress, you know he must be crazy (or at least one of you are). How is it possible that the pressures of everyday life could render you so helpless? Is it really possible to take so much weight onto your shoulders, that you begin to crumble?

How is it possible that the things you love the most - family, friends, your job, your church, the community you call home - could cause so much distress? I’m not sure I have the answers. But I do know, I don’t want to live in a cold, impersonal world, with skin so tough you couldn’t cut it with a knife. When we open our hearts, we make ourselves vulnerable. And yes, we often get hurt. But caring about the people in our lives, and caring enough to try and change the community in which we live, is our commandment. I have a rock hanging on the fence in my yard that says “bloom where God plants you.” Those words have been imbedded in my heart since I was a little girl. That was one of the very first lessons that my dad taught me. You see, it doesn’t matter if sometimes the stress gets too much for us to handle on our own. What matters is that we stay true to our mission.

Sandra Brand is the editor of the NEA Town Courier and The Osceola Times. She may be reached by phone at 870-563-2615 or by email at brand@osceolatimes.com.