Trigger warning: this piece discusses themes of anxiety.
Living with anxiety can very easily take over everything you do. It affects the way you live. People can sometimes get annoyed when it takes over, but for me, I get anxiety when others have these negative reactions. It makes me feel unwelcome, but some people just aren’t aware of anxiety and what it can do to a person.
Anxiety never takes a break. It’s almost always there, even if it’s just in the back of my mind. Some people choose not to learn or care about it, but there are also so many people that do care. Being able to find and connect with the people that care is so important for everybody.
Everybody deserves care, no matter what they go through. I wish I could help people find what they enjoy in life the way others have done for me. I’m grateful for the people who chose to understand me and learn how to help. Everybody deserves that; to be able to have people care about and understand you. Sometimes it takes longer to find those kinds of people, but it is so worth it.
I went through school being told I wasn’t enough, but now, I choose to show them I am better than what they thought of me. They only ever saw the blank expressions on my face; they never knew of the anxiety that I held inside me. They needed to understand that what you see isn’t always reality.
Now, I am a voice after once being too scared to speak out. Once, in high school, I wrote a speech about living with anxiety. I was proud to share that speech and be able to show them that, despite having anxiety, I can still speak about it. I am proud of how far I’ve come. I hope others are also proud of themselves because even the smallest accomplishments are something to be greatly proud of. Anxiety doesn’t always have to hold us back, it can be the reason we thrive. Reality isn’t about listening to others’ perceptions of us, it’s creating the person we want to be for ourselves, and being proud of who we are.
-Ashlyn
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