...“Talking to Strangers” I got anxious again today.I think I am getting better at leaving anxiety behind, and then anxiety says, “Not so fast! We have more work to do.”Usually, this has to do with my writing: “Is it good enough? Does she hate it?” But not always. Sometimes I will post something on Facebook, and someone will take offense. Since I make an effort to never post anything controversial or unkind, this always shocks me and makes me wonder if I have any idea how I sound when I write. Since writing is pretty much all I do, this concern starts to bang around in my brain like a kitten knocking things off the shelf.“What was I thinking?” I wonder. But I don’t actually remember thinking anything at all. I will make comments I imagine are helpful or clarifying, and end up offending someone and wondering why I did not just remain silent.The best thing to do at this point is to take a walk. On my walk, I usually encounter a few homeless people. The Catholic Church nearby feeds them and provides other services, so there are usually a handful of folks, who have some kind of problem that I have never had to deal with, waiting in the summer heat or the winter cold for the doors to open so they can get the help they need. I talk to these folks as I walk by. Some of them ignore me. Most of them smile and return the greeting.But occasionally, I meet someone who just stares at me, like, “What is her story?”And the funny thing about this is that they assume I have one. “It’s going to be cooler tomorrow!” I announced yesterday to a gentleman sitting on the steps. Only as I got closer did I notice he had his head under his T-shirt. He pulled it out when he heard me.“It’s going to be really cool,” I repeated to the confused-looking fellow. “Much cooler than normal!”He stared at me as if I was speaking in code. I could tell that— whatever he thought of me—he assumed I knew what I was talking about. He thought I had it together. He had no way of knowing how many days I wondered if hiding under my own T-shirt might not be the best strategy.I realized by then that he had some cognitive problem, but I felt ...
