I took a walk along my local beach this evening. This was the first visit to the coast since the Lockdown and it was a relief to finally stretch my legs across its sands for an hour plus.
I have been suffering from extremely detailed anxiety dreams of late. In these nightmares, I am walking along the beach, when suddenly I find myself in the midst of hundreds of people who swarm around me like a scene from The Walking Dead. Only they are not zombies, just possibly infected members of the public.
These nightmares clung to my mind as I strolled in a state of hyper-vigilance across the sands but I managed to keep a full-blown panic attack at bay, thanks to the company of my wife on the walk. Indeed, much of the walk was a delight. It was good the smell the salt-laden air, hear the waves lapping over the sand and feel the crunch of abandoned shells beneath my feet again. The only down part to the walk were the hordes of joggers that were clueless to the meaning of the 2-metre rule and who kept chugging up, panting furiously, along and past me without a care in the world. :(
Still, this was another successful effort at leaving the safety of my house as I try to conquer the extreme anxiety that has swamped me of late.
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| This signpost was apparently invisible to joggers today |