All About My Anxiety

Anxiety; a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.

If you're a long time watcher of my small YouTube channel (TheLittleLifeOfAva), you might have watched a video I put out over the summer called "Lets Have a Chat."  In this video, I addressed where I'd been for the past month and why there had been a lack of videos, I also slightly addressed something that I don't discuss with many people which is my anxiety disorder.

My Story

I've struggled with anxiety for a long time but when I entered high school it got a lot worse.  First semester of my freshman year wasn't too bad, I'd mainly just get anxious over tests and quizzes, but second semester was the worst my anxiety had every been.  In January I began to get anxious over my sleeping which was awful.  I'd be up until the early hours of the morning, panicking because I believed my lack of sleep would affect my grades and Tylenol PM became my best friend.  Soon after my anxiety began, I became more OCD about stuff I was doing during my everyday routine.  If I didn't braid my hair every night I wouldn't be able to sleep, if I didn't listen to the same music in the shower I wouldn't be able to sleep, if I didn't put on the same lip balm everyday I wouldn't be able to sleep, etc.  This continued on for the rest of the school year and I never got help.  Instead I'd try as many home remedies as I could to sleep (like the 4-7-8 breathing method).  These methods would work for maybe a night or two but then I was back to very little sleep each night.  Finally when summer came, I was given a break from my anxiety.  No school meant no worries for me.  When this school year started in August my anxiety returned but it wasn't as bad as it once was.  I finally got some help about my anxiety this month.  I went to a lovely doctor who asked me a few questions about my life, my disorder, and how it was affecting my everyday routine.  We then worked out a plan that was best for me and I've seen an incredible improvement in anxiety these past few weeks.  I can finally sleep at a reasonable time and I don't have to do all the steps I used to to be able to sleep.

If you're suffering with a mental disorder, please talk to someone about it.  When I finally opened up to my friends and family about my anxiety disorder I began to feel so much better.  Mental disorders aren't something you should feel like you have to hide, open up the discussion so everyone understands that mental disorders are real disorders.

Things I Do To Calm My Anxiety

1. Reading
2. Watching The Office - it's my favorite TV show, what can I say
3. Drawing
4. Photography
5. Hot baths or showers
6. Watching YouTube videos

I hope this post has helped you if you're suffering from a mental disorder or know someone who is.

Thank you for reading,

Ava x