Living with anxiety can be intense. Even the littlest things will put you on edge. You begin to feel like you have no grasp on your life. Everything begins to slip through your fingers, and before you know it, you feel like you have a 100 lb boulder on your chest, which makes it hard to breathe. Anxiety attacks happen more often than people think, and they are no joke.

I am personally able to control my anxiety pretty well, but I do have times where I feel like I've lost my grip on the leash. I tend to bottle things up and not approach my problems when I should. One thing happens and I talk myself into it being okay. I say that I will deal with it later, which should not be the case. Then, when the next thing happens I say the same thing because I am too afraid to face my problems. After one thing after another happens, it begins to be too much to bear. This is when the anxiety kicks in. A lot of times it will become hard to breathe, and my head will start to spin. The worst part about it for me personally is that the last little thing that happens tends to be something minuscule, but everything has built up so much that I am unable to control the anxiety anymore. The anxiety turns into anger, which causes me to explode. The episode could be towards someone I love, towards myself, or even towards a stranger. (I am lucky that it hasn't come to the point of snapping towards someone that I don't know, but I am terrified because I know that it could happen.)

Many people don't realize how serious anxiety can be. It can lead to depression, people physically harming themselves, and sometimes a mixture of both will lead to suicide. I know that this is not a fun, happy topic to talk about, but it is serious and people need to be aware that it is more common than we think.

I am lucky. I have friends and family who make it so much easier to deal with, but a lot of people have it way worse than me. They have no outlet and no one to turn to for help. Besides my friends and family to talk to, my outlet is reading or writing. I know that reading doesn't really seem like it would be an outlet, but it really is. I tend to read books about people who have gone through so much, and seeing how big their problems are compared to mine really help me put my life into perspective. When I write, I am able to let out all of the pinned up emotion that has been building and building.

Other ways to cope are through music, sports,art, etc. Unfortunately, many people don't realize that there are ways to release the pinned up stress other than drugs, alcohol, or physical harm. So the best advice that I can give to you is, if you know someone who struggles with anxiety or depression, let them know that there is a way to deal with it that doesn't involve hurting themselves or the people around them. Let them know that there are outlets that can help them, and that they are not alone.