It isn't a flashy sound. The schwa is an upside down e, and accounts for a significant, if underemphasized, portion of the English language. It has been coined the lazy vowel, because it takes the least amount of effort. Just send a puff of breath through your vocal chords. No gymnastics by your tongue, or lips necessary. Just a gentle vibration of air. 

Neither is the schwa of an exclusive bent. Any written vowel can do the job, be it a, e, i, o, u, or y. It's an equal opportunity pronunciation. 

Oddly, though, the schwa is sometimes neglected. Chocolate. Different. Caramel. They have all dropped out the syllable in the middle. Perhaps in rebuttal there are also words that smash a schwa in where there wasn't one before. Like in athlete and realtor. Those are disyllabic words which often show up having three. 

The thing about schwas is they are never stressed. My shoulders drop just thinking about it. Which of us doesn't want to lose stress?

The other day I was listening to a friend for whom anxiety has become a problem. It is getting in the way of regular life, which most of us would concur is already tough enough. Yet invisible as it is, panic is real. Perhaps if it could be seen like a lump or a rash, we would have more of a handle with which to address it. 

My sincere hope is to help those around me drop the extra stress that shows up in the middle of our interactions. All kinds of people, including the ones I don't know or don't agree with. And to add a whiff of breath between the lumpy expectations that plague us all.