Anxiety Does Not Mean We Cannot Do Hard Things: The Time my Anxious Daughter Studied Abroad

As I write this, my first-born is 5,633 miles away in Taormina, Sicily. This is the farthest she has ever been away from home. Granted, she will turn 20 three weeks from today. But, this is my kid who worries, she is my perfectionist, my empath. So the fact that she is over 5,000 miles from home should freak me out. In all honesty, the thought of it did freak me out for months leading up to this trip. I worried about how she would manage being in a foreign country so far away from all of her familiar places and people. I knew how important it was to her to be able to travel the world without allowing anxiety to hold her back.

So, this is where the “fabulous” part of my post begins. As soon as she got to her destination, I started hearing from her less and less. Not that I don’t want to hear from her, because I absolutely do; but all moms know that there are times in life when no news is good news. When I have heard from her, it’s to tell me about some cool experience she has had, or to send me photos from her outings. She is at a fabulous, ancient amphitheater today making a presentation for her Honors credit, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

This was my child who got overwhelmed at her pre-school holiday parties. They were just too loud and stimulating for her tender, sensitive nerves. But now at almost 20, Praise God (because it is He who deserves all the glory), she is out seeing the world, and becoming the woman God wants her to become. I want her to know, it’s a lifelong process, and at almost 50, I am still transforming and growing into the woman I am intended to be.

So, for all of you moms of children who seem more sensitive or anxious than most, please know that there will be days ahead when your little one will have the coping skills they need to do the unthinkable. All that is required of you is to acknowledge the way God created them, give them all the tools they require (this does not mean doing everything for them or making them comfortable at all times – that topic will have to be elucidated in another blog post), and pray for God to work in their lives and in yours, as their parent.

Today when I see these photos on my phone (yes, I am the “find your i-phone” mom), I will not allow myself to be “freaked out”, but instead will rejoice in the “fabulous” of today. I cannot wait to watch as God uses these experiences in my daughter’s life to glorify Him.