Personal Narrative: My Struggle With Social Anxiety

I recently solved a problem that had been making me miserable. I have struggled with social anxiety for as long as I can remember, I would go out of my way to isolate myself and avoid having to communicate with others. I let my anxiety shape my identity; I went into middle school as a shy and introverted kid who would keep her nose in her Maximum Ride books. I did not, however, let my anxiety depress me. I had a fair amount of friends and did well in my classes, reading and playing cello in my free time. I went through middle school without having to face any serious conflicts; there wasn’t much that I could not handle. When I entered high school I encountered the same problems that most kids have to face, I had to adjust and make new friends in an environment that I had no …show more content…
Being thrust it a new environment where I had no choice but to learn how to communicate well was difficult for me. Thankfully, my first two years of high school went surprisingly well, I joined new clubs, continued in orchestra, made good grades and good friends, many of whom I still have today. When I started my junior year everything started to change, I had a lot of new responsibilities that just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. The course work in International Baccalaureate program started to become much more advanced, I got accepted into National Honors Society, Tri-M Music Honors Society, I was volunteering and I had a leadership role in several clubs. I was starting to feel overwhelmed but I still tried to manage my time as well as I could. When I started my senior year I couldn’t handle it anymore. My anxiety had fully evolved into something that was crippling, I couldn’t eat, I had trouble sleeping, I stopped trying to communicate with my family and friends, and all I really wanted to do was isolate myself completely from the outside