Did you know that physiologically, both excitement and anxiety present very similarly?

I never used to be a fearful person. I wasn’t a stress-head or a worst-case scenario thinker. I had never had a panic attack, or even been close to one. But that was before our HeartKid was born.

Most people know one of my ‘lemons’ is the Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) our oldest son was born with. But this past year, we’ve had another health-related lemon land in our court.

I thought ‘that’s it, that’s exactly how I can manage unhealthy stress better’. So many things can push in on us and wear us down. Serious health issues are a big one which can just be so relentless. But there are many, many other causes of stress too. If you’re looking for ways to manage unhealthy stress, then check this out.

We were doing the school drop off yesterday, when our HeartKid randomly came out with:

“My biggest worry is my heart surgery, Mum. I hope I die before my surgery so I can go to heaven and have a heart that doesn’t need fixing anymore.”

And his eyes welled up with tears, with a face full of sadness.