While it is true that we cannot control what feelings come up to the surface in our day-to-day thinking, it is true that we can learn what to do with those feelings once they come to pay us a visit.  The New Webster’s Dictionary gives the best description of what a feeling really is.  “A conviction based on grounds other than reason.” Reason has traditionally been claimed as distinctly human, and not to be found elsewhere in the animal world.  Some have referred to “reason” as the mind’s eye.  Others have said that reason is a direct intuition of truth.  I have read Webster’s definition over and over because it is truly a very powerful statement.   The definition tells me that most of the decisions I have made and continue to make, are made on unsteady ground when relying mostly on feelings.  Building a home on sand would be more like it.

      I believe that by using a simple set of tools contained in my booklet,  Just Erase It, the reader will be able to “erase” anxious feelings.  He or she will be able to determine what she or he can or cannot erase.  The reader will also see that they do have a choice.  Oftentimes, we allow ourselves to feel powerless over many situations that we DO have control over.

     In the last forty or so years, we have given over our ability to sort through our feelings--to drugs.  Not only “recreational” drugs like pot, cocaine, etc., but prescription drugs as well;  medications such as Zoloft, Xanax, Lexapro, etc.  I have only had one occasion to take an anti-anxiety medication.  I had had cervical  surgery (neck surgery) and I had to wear a hard collar for two months.  It was near impossible to wear the brace and sleep.  I took Ativan only for a few days when I first arrived home from the hospital until I figured out another way to sleep.  My doctor ended up ordering a hospital bed for that time period.   I figured the cost for a prescription such as Ativan or Xanax might run close to $100.00 for a month’s supply.  Boy, was I wrong!  I called around to a few pharmacies and found out that .25 mg Xanax can be purchased for approximately $16.99 for a month’s supply.   Yes folks, for less than $20.00 you will be able to sell out your anxious feelings.  Ativan could be purchased for approximately $50.00 for a 30 count supply.

     The main focus in this book are anxious feelings.  We all have experienced them one time or another.  Anxious feelings can best be described as a painful or fearful uneasiness of the mind usually over an impending or anticipated event.  Another way to describe anxious feelings is an intense feeling of dread.  As a nurse, I have given out countless pills under the classification of anti-anxiety.  There is no doubt in my mind that this type of drug surely has its place when given for severe, disabling anxiety but I don’t believe for an instant that the millions of people who are currently taking anti-anxiety drugs really require this drastic type of medical intervention.   We all know that a typical physician office visit last approximately five minutes or less.  I believe the path of least resistance occurs in a physicians office when it comes to seeing an anxious patient . . . a prescription.  I came upon the concept of erasing my anxious feelings by feeling that same anxiety felt by those countless patients who found themselves in a doctor’s waiting room. 

 

Miriam Carney, R.N., BA Sociology