Order, Disorder, and Reorder: <\/b>
\nA Journey through Anxiety and Identity<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Haley Littleton describes the anxiety that has nipped at her heels her whole life. \u201cI would describe it as a low hum that always existed in the back of my head,\u201d she says, \u201cfull-of-mind chatter like, \u2018you\u2019re not doing enough, you\u2019re not good enough, you need to be better, or you need to work harder.\u2019 Control was always a big thing for me, and oh, the catastrophizing!\u201d she slaps the table for emphasis. \u201cLet me plan out the worst possible scenario that can happen so that I won\u2019t be hurt by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
On a classic mountain bluebird day in early June at an outdoor Frisco coffee shop, 29-year-old Littleton, who runs communications and marketing for the Town of Breckenridge, seems as far from hurt as she is from her hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. She\u2019s friendly, smart, pretty, funny, animated — someone who appears entirely comfortable with herself and others, making her struggles with anxiety seem incongruous. While awaiting the Black Lives Matter protest, in which she actively participates, Littleton shares about her life, and the assorted components she has assembled to help her both heal and thrive.<\/p>\n
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In 2016, after being in school without a break since kindergarten, Haley Littleton picked up her Master\u2019s Degree in English Literature from the University of Denver and headed for the mountains. \u201cI had friends up here and I thought it sounded good to finally take a break, figure out what I wanted to do. I moved to Keystone to be a ski instructor. My parents admittedly thought, \u2018you just got a master\u2019s degree in English and you want to do what?\u2019 I assured them that I had some form of a plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the season, she started applying for jobs and in a \u2018right time\/right place\u2019 scenario, got the job with the Town of Breckenridge managing communications and marketing. \u201cIt\u2019s a great blend of everything I\u2019m interested in: editing and writing, politics and communication, outdoor industry and environment. \u201cPeople always ribbed me about getting a Master\u2019s in English, like, \u2018what are you going to do with that? But I always joked that most people hate writing and public speaking so someone will eventually pay you to do it,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
Littleton was raised an Evangelical Christian in the Bible Belt \u2013 church every Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. \u201cI grew up in a very ordered, black and white idea of conservative Christianity,\u201d she explains. \u201cVery much a \u2018do this don\u2019t do that\u2019 behavior system. When I was young, the order suited me well, and I remember thinking, \u2018I\u2019m going to be the best Christian you\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d she says. Her father is an operations partner at a private equity firm and her mother is an accountant, both of whom \u201care incredible, kind and loving, and did their best,\u201d she says. \u201cBut no kid escapes childhood without some kind of wound.\u201d<\/p>\n