"I am strong. I endure. I overcome. "Anxiety Issues" do not apply to me!" I had misconceptions about the word "anxiety". It's true, it can mean simply worrying about things beyond one's control. But extreme anxiety as a response to trauma or stress, is so much more than that. As a person who has prided herself on perseverance and being strong, my first anxiety attack caught me off guard and stung my pride... a lot. I had just gone through an extremely difficult and emotionally traumatic experience, so not sleeping made sense to me. The pain in my chest, inability to breathe, and numbness didn't make sense to me. I had a few of them in the days following the experience, but eventually they went away. A few years passed and I felt I had left that all behind me. I truly thought it would be an isolated experience due to the trauma. I was wrong. Recently, after growing stress from my job, and let's face it, the year 2020, I felt my ability t
a place for reflection, ponderings and opinion.. an outlet not limited by one topic or genre