The Anxious Morning
The Anxious Morning
143. Lessons On Anxiety From Stevie Nicks
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143. Lessons On Anxiety From Stevie Nicks

That "Landslide" wasn't what you thought it was. It's actually better.
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It’s the end of July already, so it’s time for a guest writer on The Anxious Morning. Today we’ll hear from someone actively engaged in the recovery process. Lindsey is doing the work right now. She’s struggling through challenges and doing her best to surf through hard days to learn the lessons she needs to learn. She’s gaining ground and making good progress. When she told me about this little lesson she learned from an old Fleetwood Mac song, I asked if she would be willing to share this bit of wisdom and insight on The Anxious Morning. I’m so happy she agreed to do it!


How can Stevie Nicks, one of the greatest singers and songwriters of our time help you with your anxiety? Just hear me out. I recently took a writing course that focused on songwriters. While studying Stevie Nicks, one story in particular about the song, “Landslide,” stopped me in my tracks.

If you haven’t listened to the song, you should do that now. And if you are familiar with it, you, like most people, probably assumed it was about love – love with a man, love with a woman, love with a parent, love with a child – love with someone. What if I told you it was never about loving someone else? What if I told you it was written about loving herself, about loving her art, about not giving up on her own dreams?

Landslide was written about one poignant moment - a moment in Colorado with her guitarist and then boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham. Their first band, Buckingham Nicks, had flopped - the band she had given up everything for – and she and Lindsey had gone to Colorado to get away. Faced with having to quit singing and give up her dreams, she looked up at the “snow-covered hills” and Stevie said to Lindsey, “we’re going to the top of that mountain.” With not a dime to their names, she told him in that moment, she wasn’t giving up. And within one year, they were Fleetwood Mac. You know the rest of the story.

It got me thinking about my anxiety journey. About all the times I white knuckled through large crowds. Grocery runs. Endless doctors’ appointments. Those days when I was sweaty and dizzy on long highway drives with crying babies in the backseat, looking for the nearest exit. I was always pushing through to appease someone else - my husband, my boss, my kids - to make everyone around me believe I was ok.

But I wasn’t ok. And years of talk therapy didn’t fix the panic attacks. Nothing did. Nothing worked until my reason and my why became me. It never worked until I decided not to give up, until I loved myself enough to chase my own dreams and climb to the top of the mountain for me.

Can the child within my heart rise above?

Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?

Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Well, I’ve been afraid of changin’

‘Cause I’ve built my life around you

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting older too

Oh! I’m getting older too.

– Stevie Nicks, Landslide

We don’t get unlimited time to be who we want to be and do what we want to do. Love yourself enough to go climb that mountain today for you. Take it from Stevie. Don’t give up.


Don’t spend all of your time trying to FIND yourself. Spend your time CREATING yourself into a person that you’ll be proud of. - Sonya Parker

Every Friday I’ll share one of my favorite quotes. They’ll often have direct application in recovery, but sometimes they’re just generally funny, inspiring, or thought-provoking.  I hope you enjoy them

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The Anxious Morning
The Anxious Morning
Wake up every morning to a hot cup of anxiety support, empowerment, education, and inspiration in your inbox. The Anxious Morning is written and recorded by Drew Linsalata.