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.
Hi Jacob
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your sharing your personal experiences and personal overcoming of your anxiety condition. I think this is an excellent personal essay topic for you. I imagine you can relive some of your experiences and how scared you were about what was going on, then move to the help you received and how you began to become aware of your anxiety condition, and grew to understand it. You can address all kinds of insights and dimensions from your personal experiences, personal feelings, and personal dealings with the anxiety condition. I think navigating through the complex minefield and giving clarity to your personal context and your personal experiences will be a great lesson for all of us to better understand anxiety and to be better prepared to use this knowledge if we have a family member or a friend that needs to address such a concern like you did.
I hope my feedback helps.
Samer Alqaysi
Thank you for being so honest regarding your mental health. I think in today's day it's so crucial to discuss mental health and treat it in the same way, if not more critically, than physical health. As someone who struggles with anxiety on a daily basis, I am so appreciative of your willingness to bring light to this mental health crisis and explore it in-depth. It might be beneficial for you to do some in-person research to add credibility to your paper, especially since so many Americans experience anxiety on a daily basis. Best of luck to you on this paper, and I cannot wait to read about your findings.
ReplyDeleteDeep breaths and positive thoughts,
Noah