The word anxiety has such a stigma around it. If you say you get anxiety about something or have anxiety there will always be people who think that you are crazy. In fact I use to be one of those people that didn’t think anxiety was totally real. I understood that people could have issues when it came to different situations but I figured they could get through them fairly quickly. I wish that I had never thought that way.

Lets just say that I thought this way till I had a full-blown anxiety attack. It hit me like a ton of bricks and I had no clue what was going on. Thankfully I figured out that I needed to just breath and relax and that I would be ok. I will never forget calling my mom after this “episode” and explaining to her what had happened. She told me, “Codie sounds like you had an anxiety attack.” I laughed let me say that again I laughed and told her there was no way. Over the next year I learned that I did have anxiety and that I wasn’t just something you “get over”.

Anxiety isn’t a laughing matter or a joke. There are days that I want to curl up in a ball and just hide. There are days that I feel fine and then all the sudden I cant breath and I feel stuck. Those days are bad, really bad. But the worst times are when I am driving. Last November I got in a car accident that probably should have left me unable to walk or worse. Thankfully I walked away with only some broken bones, bruises, and scars. But the worst thing that accident left me with was anxiety when I drive. Normally its something I can handle and deal with but there are definitely times when it’s crippling. There have been times that I have had to pull over and seriously sit there and breath and try and relax.

So why am I telling you about this? Because there are too many people out there that laugh and joke about what people with anxiety go through. They think that it is just something that is in that persons head and they are just making it up. But guess what? It isn’t. It’s not just something that is in my head or something I am making up. It’s something that can stop me dead in my tracks and make me miserable. Anxiety is something that people have to work through every day. I don’t think enough people talk about the stigmas and what they go through.

I, in no way shape or form, have an awful case of anxiety, but there are days that it truly feels like I am alone dealing with this. Thankfully I have surrounded myself with amazing friends and family who support me and know how to handle me when I am suffering. But I know that there are people out there that don’t have the support system I have. To anyone that is dealing with or struggling with anxiety know that you aren’t alone. There are people that are there for you. Keep your head up and keep going. You got this!