MEET THELMA

Meet Thelma, she is my anxiety monkey. I found half of her monkey face staring back at me one morning whilst doing a downwards facing dog in my usual yoga spot. She was right there in the patterns of the wood in the planks of my lounge floor.

Art and nature is where my subconscious talks to me.

I’ve come to find that it is a wiser leader and more trustworthy source of truth than  calculating, fear mongering, answer-demanding, apocalypse-preaching Thelma.

Thelma wants to:

-know first

-have guarantees

-figure it all out before I make a move

-know what I’m going to do to protect her eternally from judgement, pain, fear or embarrassment

-keep me making an idiot out of myself

-hold me back from the danger of sharing my thoughts/work/myself

So, what do I do with Thelma? In periods she shows up A LOT

Turns out most of the time she just needs some love and reassurance and to NOT be given the responsibility of running the ship. That’s not on her, that’s on ME. Sometimes she needs to run free, maybe climb the walls or let off some steam, sometimes she needs to hear from a friend or consult a therapist and professional who has studied anxious monkeys and understands their tendencies well.  But these days most of the time she just needs to be allowed to BE whilst I remind her:

“I AM ALREADY ENOUGH”

“I AM ALREADY LOVED”

Nothing to prove, nothing to chase, nothing to fear. 

Wellness tips, tricks & recommendations
It can be immensely powerful to use imagery and invented characters to help identify and reason with parts of yourself that have been stuck in a negative narrative or traumatised by past events. I find that the vivid imagery helps in challenging, reassuring and negotiating with conflicting parts of oneself, making things clearer (and more fun!) to navigate.