I am not a young man and so it’s a relief, midway along the journey of my life, to find I am mostly not lost in the dark forest. I can do my job. I have helped raise children I am proud of. I know how to hold a knife and fork. I am, at …
Tag: anxiety
Voice, 18.05.21
The future troubles me. I worry about all sorts of stuff. These are not global concerns. I’m good with the great shifts of human and planetary history. No. With me, it’s the little things. When I was waiting for my children to be born, I fretted over what we would call them, about whether they’d …
Tired, 2.9.19
I woke up tired this morning. On Friday, I went to see my Dad in hospital, where he’s stuck with a bout of pneumonia, and then had supper with my Mum. On Saturday I saw some very old friends, sat around, sang, laughed a lot and went busking. My children showed up as if by …
Cow, 21.12.17
Christmas makes me feel a little vulnerable: the pressure to get it right; the sheer, spiraling cost of it; the need for everyone to be jolly. What if I fail? It makes me want to run away. I went for a run recently, in the countryside, and found myself in a field where, in the …
Anxious, 23.7.15
I was climbing with my son Silas yesterday. We’ll be doing that a lot this holiday. It’s brilliant fun – but it makes me anxious. Although the wall is only around four metres high, there are no ropes or harnesses, so if you fall, you hit the ground. I’m not brave and some moves make …