- Skipping Birthday Parties
- Have to miss the second and third day of junior year from a week-long anxiety attack
- Spending every night from age 7 till now pondering life and everything that can go wrong instead of sleeping
- Not being able to ride rollercoasters
- Having to be 30 min early to everything to avoid being late
- Making excuses to not hang out because my anxiety was at a high
- Skipping school
- Not being able to apply for different jobs for fear of rejection
- Presenting in class
- Talking to people and constantly wondering if they are judging me
- Sharing my faith and fearing consequence
- Being anxious about driving because fear of accidents, death, and harming someone else
- Having to constantly check me in the mirror to make sure I look okay so no one will pass judgment
- Having to leave work early because an anxiety attack wouldn’t subside
- Not being able to focus in class because the night before anxiety attacks would wake me out of my sleep
- Having digestive problems due to anxiety
- Having an issue with not eating / binge eating due to anxiety
- Having to constantly tap something or move to keep my mind busy with other things
- Sacrificing schools I wanted to go to because I was afraid of having too much anxiety and being that far away from home
- Never being able to enjoy anything to the fullest because even good days overwhelm my brain and send me into an attack no matter how amazing the day was.
Trust me when I say this list continues for miles but also trust me when I say there is help out there. God never forsakes us and even tells us to cast our anxieties on him, so I do. Having this mental disorder is not easy and it is something I will have for the rest of my life but I know I have the Lord with me every step of the way.