In your own words tell us about an instance when you had a perplexing, confusing, or surprising experience with your own health.

Anxiety use to completely control my everyday life, I tried to do everything to ease it besides medication. Eventually though I made the decision with my doctor to try sertraline, and I kinda feels shameful or sad to say but my life has been substantially more fulfilling since starting it 2 years ago. But I know the shame isn’t real and medication isn’t something to be ashamed of.

How did this event or journey impact your day-to-day life?

I would be nauseous, uneasy, shaky, clammy, and paranoid about anything and everything. I felt it mostly impacted my academics and social life the most. My fear of trying new things, or having to even speak in class drove my me crazy. I would get so worked up I’d make myself sick, literally. The amount of times I vomited, or had my poor mom take me to the er because I felt I was having a heart attack but it was just a panic attack.

If you could go back and tell your previous self something you know now about this health issue or journey what might that be?

Practice breathing, and putting things into perspective. Talk to your mother.

Can you share any strategies or support that aided you in overcoming this health issue or journey, or are helping you to work through it, in terms of physical and/or mental well-being?

Therapy helped a lot. Especially when I was younger. Apart from the anxiety, there were definitely other factor in my life that I had to unpack with someone unrelated to me, that was the only way I was able to truly move through certain traumas. My therapist then also really helped me find methods to improve my day to day life prior to being medicated, and I think they did help for a while. But during the pandemic the anxiety got worse again, and I couldn’t see my original therapist because she only worked with those under 18, so form there I talked to my doctor about medications, and getting in to see a new therapist. Unfortunately I don’t think I connected very well with my new therapist a second time around, so eventually I stopped going. But I will say I don’t think stopping my meeting has made my life worse, I feel very content and happy with how far ive come and where I’m able to go now that I have taken proper steps to bettering my everyday life with anxiety.