Great post, Nuudawn. I've been reading a book called The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion. He presents a formula: pain x resistance = suffering. In short, the more we learn how to embrace our pain or lows, the better we can navigate the darkness (and the more we appreciate the happy times). I'm still early on in the book. Learning ways to quell anxiety, fear, or general ickiness is something I've been 'working on' all summer. I'm starting to think that maybe it's time to stop working on making it go away/never arise and start learning how to accept it when it inevitably does.