I’m sure we can all agree that most people in today’s society know what feeling anxious is like and at one point in their life have experienced it. Where it was worrying about acing an upcoming test, facing a difficult talk needed with a friend, or being worried about that walk home from the office alone at night – everyone has most likely felt anxious.
Growing up I was no different and I, too, had the occasional times of feeling anxious or being nervous about some upcoming task or event; however, that uneasy feeling was mostly rational and always temporary.
My nerves came and went with each task or event at hand and more than likely I was able to come up with a solution to lower or even remove my apprehensions. Most importantly, that anxious feeling was never debilitation, nor did it ever control my life.
Before being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, I was someone who lived loudly!
Not loudly as in I was the center of attention or made a “look at me” entrance (in fact my introvert personality usually made me do the opposite); however, I was someone who LIVED. I lived full-speed ahead with no fears that held me back from LIVING. I traveled a lot, tried many new adventures, attended countless events and overall grew up happy and, for the most part, carefree.
But, that was pre-anxiety.
My life changed for me six years ago when I was diagnosed with three types of anxiety disorders: GAD (generalized anxiety disorder), PD (panic disorder) and SAD (social anxiety disorder).
I wasn’t unfamiliar with mental illnesses prior to anxiety as I had been living with episodes of depression since I was a teenager. Surprisingly, and somewhat naively, I had no idea about anxiety disorders prior to my diagnoses.
However, six years ago that all changed.
Six years ago, I experienced my first panic attack and from then on my world turned upside down.
That’s not to dismiss the dark clouds that came with every depression episode; however, for me (as it’s different for all) my anxiety (paired with my episodes of depression) was/is a tsunami compared to the hurricane depression was/is on it’s own (again, this is just my experience so far).
For me, living with both anxiety and depression disorders, I yearned to feel not alone.
So, when I researched the internet about depression and anxiety I was mostly directed to medical experts and professionals sharing their knowledge and resources (don’t get me wrong – this is absolutely needed and important).
However, I wanted to find more.
I hoped to find someone who understood exactly what I was going through. I wanted to relate to other first-person narratives who also had anxiety and depression. What I found was very few of those websites.
That is how “Living Anonymous With Anxiety” came to life.
Maybe someone out there was/is looking for the exact same thing. Someone sharing his or her first-person narrative of what LIVING with anxiety is like. So here I am – sharing my journey to the path of LIVING with anxiety and depression to having ANXIETY and DEPRESSION control my living.