I’m trying to think of anxiety as a game. Maybe like one of those games that you pass around and it gives you an electric shock at a random time. It’s just a bad feeling. It will one day be over. Meanwhile, it’s a part of being human. So let’s make a list. I like lists.

 

Results of losing:

The shock game: you get a shock.

Poker: you lose your money or physical possessions.

Egyptian Ratscrew: You get very sad, and a stinging hand.

Sorry: Nothing. It’s Sorry.

Chess: an inferiority complex.

The Anxiety Game: Your chest gets tight, everything gets heavy, the Present is whisked away and the vacuum is quickly replaced by the past and future. Your body feels like it’s been replaced by 20-year-old Icy Hot, and moving becomes gross. And then the thinking starts.

 

So maybe it’s a game. A miserable, horrible self-loathing loss that can last a few minutes or a few years. And you’re always playing.

But right now, I am winning. I hope you are, too.