My Kryptonite: Anxiety & Panic Attacks
Image File: http://celebmix.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/a-small-scare-or-a-chronic-condition-01.jpg
I remember feeling hopeful after watching a TED Talk on mental illness. It hit close to home and made me feel less alone.
“How come when people have mental damage, it's always an active imagination? How come every other organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy, except the brain?”
I’ve had panic attacks in bed, laboratories, and toilet cubicles. Growing up, I didn’t talk about it, because I was terrified of the stigma. I chose to keep it to myself – and it was the wrong move.
My anxiety and panic attacks are on the moderate side; with therapy and the right lifestyle, I can keep it under control most of the time. But sometimes, they flare up with a vengeance.
There are people out there with unimaginable cases; because of their mental illness, they can’t leave their house, their room, their bed.
A lot of people have not grasped the concept, and it’s one of the reasons why there is so much to be done to dispel the negativity surrounding it.
Mental illness never goes away. You hurt. You learn to pick yourself up. You learn to live one day at a time. What keeps me going is I don’t want to end up like the character on The Golden Girls who has locked himself up in his apartment for 22 years.
I’m afraid of my mental illness, but I’m much more terrified of missing life. I can’t remember a day without thinking about my anxiety and panic attacks, but no matter how bad things are going to get, I’ll never let it triumph over me.
You know what? Scratch that, why can’t I be both?
I’m a worrier and a warrior.
