How To Travel To Tokyo When You Have Panic Disorder
Eventually, we realized the only place that two nerds like us would spend a long time traveling to would be Japan. We always assumed it was an impossible trip due to our chronic illnesses. Between the two of us we share a basket full, and Panic Disorder is included in my husband’s portion.
Am I Afraid of the Dark?
I don’t know what I am afraid of more: darkness, loneliness, or the silence they both can bring with them. Once the lights go off, my brain churns in overtime. The shadows shift into something that isn’t there, and all my biggest fears seem to be real. For me, the dark is the time for each memory to play out anew.
Anxiety Relief Kit Part IV
We've reached the end of 2017 the Anxiety Relief series (for now). Anxiety sucks when I am trying to walk outside and enjoy a nice, summer day. Or when I am in the checkout lane trying to leave a store. But it’s more frustrating when I’m in a crowded subway or about to enter a job interview. On days when my brain chemistry is all out of whack, anxiety doesn’t care what I’m doing. It just sucks.
Image by: VIKTOR HANACEK for picjumbo
Anxiety Relief Kit Part III
Alright, I’ve made a few posts (See Part One and Two ) about my Anti-Anxiety Kit at this point. It’s a summarized list of things (physical and emotional) I have used over the years to help cope with my symptoms as they happened. When I started running, I would lose breath after a 100 yards and fall to my knees, dizzy without oxygen. I got upset and cried because I just wanted to jog. Running was supposed to help me learn how to breathe and make my anxiety better, but instead, it felt like it broke me.
Cover Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash
Anxiety Relief Kit Part I
To manage, somewhere in the back of brain, I have been putting together an Anxiety Kit. It’s a combination of things that I have used to help soothe the bad moments, to distract my mind from itself and avoid the grand finale—a panic attack. It’s a combination of coping mechanisms I have found in workbooks, heard from my therapist, or brought to me by friends. In hopes that it will help you too, I wrote them all down.
Why I Continue Fighting Having Mental Illness
I talk about going to the doctor, being diagnosed and admitting to having a problem as the first steps towards feeling better. I also would be lying, if I said I was okay with my illness. I go through spurts of being exceedingly angry with myself. Mad at my brain. My body. My genetics. But mostly, I am mad at the disease.
What It Costs To Have Anxiety
Most people can never truly understand the currency of anxiety. Each letter typed is worth about 3 negative thoughts. Now before you get worried about the negative-thought-to-word conversion rate, perhaps wait for me to lay it out below. And if you’re that concerned, maybe it’s because you would like to know what the conversation will leave you with in your own struggle?
--Photo by Tristan Gassert on Unsplash
How to End the Mental Health Stigma Club
With 6.9% of Americans reporting to have suffered a depressive episode in 2012 alone, we shouldn’t be saying things like, “what now all millennials are depressed” or “you just need to think positively more”. Instead, maybe we can research the problems and find a way to help those who need it, become comfortable receiving help. Not doing so, leaves people waiting longer to get better. And for those of us who do get help, it feels like you’ve joined a club so secret, even its members don’t know who’s in the club with them.