For this Tuesday’s blog post, I have decided to explain my experience with my own personal mental health notion: anxiety.
The first time that I began to take notice of my anxiety was around my years of high school. I would constantly worry about things that were beyond my control. Even to this day, I still continue to do so. One of the main features that I’ve noticed about my anxiety is that it typically tends to revolve around the question “What if…?” What if I don’t get this done on time? What if I don’t meet these requirements? What if I’m just not good enough?
In order to kind of break the cycle, I would participate in a few high school plays in order to give my mind something to focus on, rather than worrying. I’ll never forget in one of the plays that I was in, one of my classmates described her anxiety; and it was possibly the most accurate explanation of anxiety that my ears had ever heard. While I cannot remember exactly what she said word for word, her description went along something like this: Everywhere you go, there is water pouring in; through the cracks of the walls, up through the floor, dripping from the ceiling, leaking under the doors. But the thing is; you’re the only one who can see it.
Even though I do still have anxiety, and have panic attacks here and there, I have found different ways to manage it, such as grounding, breathing, and distracting myself by baking and cleaning.
