Soothe Your Nerves: An Aha Moment In My Struggle With Anxiety
I have been reading a book, the first I’ve ever seen of its kind in fact, named Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman’s Guide to Understanding and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fear. Though books have served as self-illumination and a sense that I am not alone in my struggles, there have only been a few books that have fit my life like a second skin. Soothe Your Nerves ranks up there with those few. Not only did the title grab my attention but as I looked at the front of the book, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. The terminology, iridescent of the era I grew up in, and the relevance to my current struggle set the book apart from any of the others of that genre. Further, throughout my reading, my head and spirit have nodded in agreement with the author’s familiarity and perceptions.
With the exception of one other book, Love Is A Choice, no other book has had such profound relevance to my current experience. Oprah calls it an Aha moment.
One such Aha moment was when I read about the origin of the Strong Black Woman concept–“This ability to rise against overwhelming odds” discussed by the author. I must tell you, though I’ve strived to be “strong,” it’s been brutal. Tears were frowned upon as weakness or pitiful unless they were during worship. Taking it a step further, at some point you had to stop crying and start doing the holy dance; otherwise the church mothers would start pleading the blood over you and coaching you to repeat their praiseworthy declarations. “Hallelujah!” They would clap their hands while shouting “thank you, Jesus” and “glory” until you stopped that crying.
Sidebar, some good soul cleansing and relief from anxiety happened during some of those praise sessions. Still, there were other times when I felt more exhausted and frustrated afterwards than uplifted.