A Bit About Me

My name is Rebecca, and I have anxiety.  The usual reaction to this statement goes something like this, "Oh, yeah, I worry about things a lot too."  Before I begin, I would like to share some information on anxiety.  While everyone worries, a person with anxiety spends a majority of their time worrying about things that are unlikely to happen or that they cannot do anything about.  These worries take up so much time and thought that they interfere with day-to-day life.  While I have general anxiety disorder, there are other types of anxiety out there, including panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Growing up, I was always very sensitive about things.  The best way to describe this is that I could tell myself that something was not important or I didn't want to get upset about it, but that thought process had no effect on my emotional reactions.  It was as if people had a switch in their heads, and they could decide whether or not they were going to react to something by flipping the switch, but in my head the switch was disconnected.  I could flip it all I wanted, but it was never going to do anything.  On top of my emotional reactions to the smallest problems and insults, I also worried about everything.  I worried about whether I would get struck by lightening, or the house would burn down, or a robber or murderer would break into our house and kill us in our sleep.  Whenever my parents were even slightly late picking me up after a class or activity, I worried that they had forgotten me, or gotten into an accident, or had to go to the hospital.  Basically, I did a lot of crying and a lot of worrying in my early years.

When I was sixteen, I was finally diagnosed with anxiety.  Once I started taking medication to help with the chemical imbalance in my brain, my life immediately began to improve.  It felt as though someone had connected the switch in my head, and I could finally decide not to care or worry about something.  While the medicine has been a big help, I still have days and times where I notice certain anxiety tendencies showing themselves.

This seems quite long enough for a first blog post.  I would love to hear about anybody else's struggles and feelings on anxiety.