The selfie that no My dog Baxter My Mama
one asked for lol
There are a few different topics I can
talk about in this personal essay, but aside from being a former collegiate
athlete, sports junkie, and family person, I have had other experiences in my
past that really opened my eyes and has ultimately shaped me into who I am
today. In 2016, just shortly before my 21st birthday, I experienced
my first anxiety attacks. Around that time I was so scared, confused, and
somewhat lost because I had almost never experienced anxiety before in my life.
I tried my best to just brush it off and wait for it to go away but it never
did and eventually got worse. It got to the point where I had to drop my
classes that I was taking that semester and it interfered with my work, where I
would experience anxiety attacks and have to leave early. It was then that I
knew I need to seek help.
I saw a behavioral health
specialist and was put on medication and I also learned different breathing
techniques and other activities that helped cope with anxiety. Within that year
of my first experiences, I made major improvements with support from my friends
and family and eventually got back into school and started working again. These
experienced truly opened my eyes and I learned so much about myself that I didn’t
know before. But ultimately, it made me realize how many others experience the
same thing and how important our mental health is to us! I have always heard
that mental health is just as important, if not, MORE important than physical
health and now I am a firm believer in that.
The topics of anxiety and
depression are difficult for someone to understand if they have not experienced
it themselves. Most people think anxiety is just worrying and depression is
just being sad, so I came up with some questions targeted towards an audience
that are curious about anxiety and mental health: What is anxiety? Why does one
experience anxiety? Is anxiety considered a weakness? Are there different types
of anxiety? What ways can one help cope with anxiety? How is mental health
important to us?
Anxiety as general worry and
nervousness is a normal and healthy emotion, but if someone experiences disproportionate
and repeated levels of anxiety it can lead to a disorder that interferes with
their everyday life. Anxiety can be caused
by traumatic events from the past and can also be caused my anticipation of the
future. There are different types of anxiety, some treated similarly to each
other and some treated differently. Anxiety is not a weakness, but more of an
obstacle in life that most people do not experience. Even the most successful
and famous people have had their experiences with anxiety. The world can be a scary
place sometimes and everyone experiences their own difficulties and struggles,
especially in the situation we are all in right now (side note: Hope everyone
is staying strong and healthy during this time!). Mental health is vital to
everyone’s well-being and is important to relationships with the people you are
most close to.
