Breathe. I tell myself this before I begin each day.
Living with anxiety is not easy. The constant cycle of self-doubt and insecurity mixed with panic attacks can become exhausting enough to discourage even the strongest of people.
A trip to the grocery store can require a thirty minute pep talk. A simple phone call may demand ten sets of deep breathing exercises to prepare. When no one else in your family is aware of these issues, it can become discouraging to face the problem alone. When your friends ridicule your social anxiety by insisting “It’s not even that bad,” it can become shameful.
While living in Korea, I witnessed anxiety amongst the students with whom I attended university. Korea is country that often encourages its people to internalize their emotions. Unlike physical impairments, psychological problems are not truly seen as a medical condition, and it is not traditionally acceptable for Koreans to seek help from mental health professionals.
When I first realized I had anxiety, I felt helpless and weak. My first day as a Park Ranger at Glacier National Park had me in tears as my anxiety choked up the words I had practiced for hours to perfect my first campground talk. My first speech at a major event as a staff member of …show more content…
I began talking to my roommates about stress and anxiety. At first, they were very reserved, but soon they began to open up about the pressures and fears they faced in their everyday lives. They even shared stories of students in their secondary school classes who committed suicide because they did not receive high enough exam grades. We realized that despite the fact that we grew up in countries oceans apart, the youth of our nations faced many of the same struggles. Soon, our dorm room became a sanctuary for the three of us; a place where we could go to escape the many academic and societal pressures, particularly as women, that we faced nearly every