When I was 19 I had my very first anxiety attack. It was a snowy night, and I was sitting in a college classroom getting ready to present…then it started. My heart began to race…I felt like the world was ending around me. I didn’t know what to think or do. Somehow I managed to grab my purse and run out of the room. I pulled my phone out and called my mom and told her I thought I was having a heart attack. It was then my mom told me I was most likely experiencing a panic attack, and that my aunt suffered from them as well. As I continued talking to my mom, my heart rate slowed, breathing returned to normal, and I was back to my normal self.

I’m 32 years old now, and after having my anxiety lay dormant for over 10 years, it decided to come back last year. I have tried to manage it on my own, but last week while teaching a group fitness class online I had an attack, and I said enough is enough. I confessed to my mom that it was back, and I told her every scary thought I have had over the past year. I signed up for a therapist and started working with her. And I decided to also find a community of like-minded people to share my story with, and to learn your stories.

We don’t have to feel alone. We don’t have to feel like a lost cause. We do not have to feel ashamed that we suffer from this condition. We might not be our strongest today, tomorrow, months from now. But that’s okay as long as we accept ourselves, love ourselves, and continue to work towards feeling better.

This blog series will contain numerous stories of my experiences living with anxiety over the past year. I hope that these stories bring you comfort in knowing you’re not the only person that feels this way.

We have survived, and we will continue to survive.

<3jenn