Anxiety wakes before I do!

Anxiety wakes before I do

already arranging the day into disasters

lining them up neatly

so I can trip over each one

It counts the ways I might disappoint

replays old conversations

until every word sounds sharpened

every silence feels deliberate

In crowded rooms it presses close

translating laughter into judgment

turning glances into verdicts

my name into something fragile

At night it grows louder

when the world goes soft

it flips through memories

searching for proof that I am not enough

My chest becomes a locked door

my breath a fist knocking

my pulse a restless metronome

measuring what I cannot control

But morning always returns

light spilling across the floor

ordinary and patient

I sit up anyway

place my feet on the ground

let the air fill me slowly

Anxiety speaks

but it does not decide

I move through the day

carrying it like weather

not permanent

not prophecy

Just a passing storm

inside a sky

that still belongs to me