Anxiety: My Experience

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A lot of posts and videos have been done on anxiety and panic attacks, and what other peoples opinions and struggles have been. However I thought I would express my experiences and my views. This is quite a difficult post to write as it's not a topic that I feel confident enough to talk about, but I wanted to write this as it might have an impact on somebody else's life who is going through and experiencing a similar situation.


I have suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember but have only found out in the last year that it was actually anxiety. As some of you might know but Zoe Sugg (Zoella) speaks quite often about her struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. When she first uploaded her video, talking about her experience, is when I first released what it all was an that it was what I was suffering from. A couple of months before she posted that video was the first time, that I remember, I had a panic attack. After that video was posted I started receiving help for my anxiety from a health service called C.A.M.H.S.

I was given multiple techniques and theories on how to overcome my issues. If you have ever experienced having a panic attack you will know that all the things and techniques that people tell you do, is the last thing that you think off when in that situation. Thankfully the best thing I found that helps me when I feel like I am going to have a panic attack is breathe slowly, and get out of the situation you are in. A lot of the time I am in busy social environments, and that is the last place I want to be. If at school I will wait until the teacher has stopped talking and politely ask to leave for 5 minutes to get out and calm down. I have found that I only have small panic attacks that only last a couple of minutes and thankfully I haven't experienced a big panic attack in a large amount of time.

My anxiety is what I struggle with the most and what affects my day-to-day life such as; school, going out, meeting people etc. During primary school I didn't go to school as often as I wish I had due to bullying which, lead me to anxiety and worrying about what others would say and think. When I moved up to high school it was the hardest change that I have ever had to go through. In year 7 my first day off was 3 days into the school year as I couldn't handle being around new people, the large building, new work and being more independent. I got moved into a class that held most of my classes in one room expect for my core subjects. This allowed me to get the best of both worlds by staying in one classroom, like primary school, yet going out and making new friends.

I was very grateful and had a large amount of people supporting me such as; family and support teachers. It took me a long long time to get into the changes that had been made in my life and I remember receiving a certificate for doing 2 full weeks at school. The following next 2 years at school remained very similar. However at this point in my life I had kept the same group of friends from primary school, and was going out of weekends. As most of you know when people get to the age of 14-15 they start experimenting in drinking and drugs, which was something I was not ready for.

By this point my anxiety had grown a significant amount and restrained me from going out. I was no longer friends with the people that I had been, and stopped going to school. This became a large issue for me as I was just going into year 10 where I would be starting my coursework and lessons that I would soon be doing GCSE's in. This was when I started getting help from the health service and the support had grown at school.

My life is still the same; I don't go out, I struggle incredibly at school, and being in social situations. I am still receiving help for my anxiety and also to help me start going out and being more independent. Overall I might not have come along way, but mentally I have come so far. I would not have been able to get to the point where I am now if it weren't for my family sticking by me and the support from people at school.

xoxo

Lea-Mai