Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.
Let's begin by settling your mind and your body.
Find a comfortable position.
Either sitting upright or lying down.
And if you haven't already.
Lightly close your eyes.
Place your palms upwards and open yourself to this moment.
Take a deep breath in.
And slowly breathe out.
Take another deep breath slowly in.
Filling your lungs completely.
Hold for just a moment.
And release,
Letting everything go in that breath.
Keep breathing slowly and deeply.
And inhaling calm.
And exhaling worry.
Inhaling stillness.
And exhaling the noise in your mind.
I want you to know that what you are feeling right now is understood.
That quiet worry that sits in the background of your relationship.
The thoughts that go around and around.
The moments you replay.
The words you wish you could take back.
And the things that you wish had gone differently.
Or perhaps it's the future that pulls at you.
The what-ifs.
What if it doesn't work out?
What if my partner pulls away?
What if I give everything and it still isn't enough?
What if I invest all of this,
My heart,
My time,
My hope,
And it doesn't work out the way I want it to?
Relationship anxiety is one of the quietest.
And most exhausting things to carry.
Because it rarely shows on the outside.
You smile,
You show up,
You carry on and all the while there's something underneath waiting.
Worrying and watching for signs.
But here's what I'd like you to gently consider.
When we live in the past,
Replaying,
Regretting,
And wishing things were different,
We stay stuck in a moment that no longer exists.
And when we live in the future,
Catastrophizing,
Predicting,
Bracing for the pain that hasn't arrived,
We miss the only thing that is ever truly real.
This moment.
Right here and right now.
The present is all we ever truly have.
And it is in the present,
Not the past,
Not the future,
Where connection lives,
Where love lives,
Where life itself lives.
Take a breath and let that land for just a moment.
You may be thinking,
If only they'd do something different.
And maybe it would help for a moment.
But the peace that you are looking for doesn't live in what they do or don't do.
It lives in you.
And here's something I really want you to hear.
You are stronger than you think you are.
You have weathered hard things before.
You have felt uncertainty before.
And you have stood in moments that felt impossible and you came through them.
You have a resilience inside of you that goes far beyond what you currently believe about yourself.
And whatever comes your way,
Whatever the future holds for you.
And your relationship,
You will be okay.
Not because everything will go perfectly.
But because you're someone who finds their way through.
You always have been.
Let that settle in your body for a moment.
Not as a thought,
But as a feeling.
I am stronger than I think.
I have resilience beyond what I give myself credit for.
Whatever comes my way,
I will be okay.
Breathe that in deeply.
And breathe it out slowly.
Come back to this moment now.
Not the past,
Not the future,
Just this.
The feeling of your breath moving through your body.
The warmth of your hands.
And the quiet around you.
This moment is safe.
This moment is enough.
And in this moment,
Right now.
Everything is okay.
As you prepare to return to the world,
I'd like you to leave you with this one gentle invitation.
Today.
Just today,
When the worry pulls you into the past or propels you into the future,
See if you can bring yourself back here.
To the present.
The small moments of beauty that are around you already.
A cup of something warm.
A light shining through the window.
A moment of quietness.
These moments are not small,
They are life itself.
And you deserve to be present for them.
Breathe in slowly one last time.
And breathe out.
When you're ready,
Rub your hands together until you feel the warmth between your palms.
Place them gently over your eyes and slowly in your own time.
Open your eyes and remove your hands.
Returning to the world a little calmer,
A little steadier.
Carrying with you the quiet knowledge that whatever comes your way,
You are stronger than you think.
You are more resilient than you know.
And you are going to be okay.
