Personal Narrative: My Struggle With Anxiety

At five years old, I already knew what a panic attack felt like. I knew what the inside of therapists’ room looked like, what it smelled like, and what the bitter taste of anxiety medication tasted like. As I grew up, my anxiety took different shapes and warped into different monsters found in my own body rather than under the bed. This monster was not any physical creature; a silent predator, only audible and only sensible to me. Anxiety is not a physical disease; no sores, no runny nose, and no rash that indicates there's something wrong with the person. If no one can see the struggle happening inside, then how can they help? I realized the struggle with anxiety that has gone unnoticed in my life. What I do not want to go unnoticed in my …show more content…
Although my anxiety has been a struggle with a worldly barrier between my own mind and those of others, it's extended an opportunity for me to grow personally in many ways that others might not. It also allows me to express that growth to others. I believe it is my anxiety that has produced the traits that I pride myself on most and foster the competence I feel I possess. Because of my life with anxiety, I have so much empathy, for myself and for my family. I am a more compassionate person, capable of taking off my shoes and slipping into another’s anxious foot prints. Honestly, as cliche as it may sound, I have learned that one really does not know the internal struggles that another may be having. People cannot hear and see all monsters that another feels inside their guts and within their bones. But we can take what makes us fearful, and use that fear to be empathetic and understanding towards the struggles of the people around us. I have been able to enjoy life and find optimism amongst the anxiety-clouded thoughts in my head. I have been able to take the lessons I have learned through my anxiety and apply them to the real