I focus my energy on my values, not my anxiety.

Someone shook so badly through the speeches at their best friend's wedding that they could not hold the glass properly. Ten years on, the friend has never once mentioned it. What the friend remembers is that they came.

The alarm cannot be argued down, and the effort spent arguing comes out of the same tank as everything else you meant to do that day.

Values are useful here for an unsentimental reason: they tell you which direction to walk while the noise continues. Not quiet first, then movement. Movement, with the noise still on.