One winter night of my junior year of high school, I was out at a restaurant with my friends. We were talking, laughing, of course eating and just having a great time. In an instant, something felt off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something didn’t feel right. There was a tight sensation that began to arouse in my chest. I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I ignored that feeling thinking maybe I was coming down with at chest cold and continued to eat with my friends. By the time I got home, it was more than just my chest that was unusual. My stomach felt like it just fell right out of my body, my head started to hurt, and I felt like I was losing my mind. I had all these random, negative thoughts suddenly racing through my head. I felt like I had no control over my emotions and that something was taking over my body while I just sat silently on my bed with a few tears falling from my cheek. Little did I know; I was having an anxiety attack.

Anxiety is often overlooked by many people. Some people will tell you that you’re just stressed and need to chill out. Others will misuse the word “anxiety” and say that they have experienced anxiety before and say that it’s no big deal. None of these people truly understand what it is like to actually have anxiety. The fact is, when having an anxiety attack, one can’t physically or mentally function. While stress can be deceiving, you can be productive while feeling stressed. When having an anxiety attack, you don’t have a choice but to sit there and wait out the attack. This can become quite an issue when being in public, the only thing one can do is excuse themselves when they feel an attack happening and find somewhere private to wait it out. You get all these negative and depressing thoughts that come up out of nowhere for no apparent reason and begin to panic.

Although, the proper medications, therapy sessions, support, and self-will, anxiety attacks are manageable and can slowly start to become less of an issue. The only thing that I really wanted to address was that anxiety attacks are real and they are way more than just stress. If you know anyone with anxiety, you need to help and support them, it’s the only way that this disorder can be managed.