I suffer from anxiety, and have for many years now in my day to day life. Mental illness is a very real thing that so many suffer from, and it doesn't just take a stroll in the park to get rid of it, at least not for everyone. For me anxiety has been a setback but I have also learned how to cope with this and still live my life despite it without any medication. I'm lucky in that way because many can't say the same, but it doesn't mean my anxiety isn't still awful. I suffer from social anxiety really bad, many of my friends and theatre family members wouldn't say this about me but I am an introverted person. I'm loud and outgoing where I'm comfortable but when meeting new people or in large groups of people I am quiet and shy and I try not to draw too much attention unless it calls for that.

Social anxiety attributes to this exceedingly, I feel moths in my stomach eating at my core and my heart hammers in my chest every time I have to speak in groups of people I don't know. Every time I have to talk to people I don't know. It's silly because I'm an actor, a theatre person and theatre people are nothing if not the super confident boisterous ones. Except that's the thing; I am confident and boisterous and honestly probably kind of annoying. I love to act and when I'm on stage in front of an audience I'm super comfortable and it's easy for me to do what I love to do, but my brain shuts off the minute the cast goes out for drinks after the show. I feel tired and like I want to be in my own bed reading or drinking tea. I get that anxious little prick at the back of my brain, but I'm still present. I have grown so much over the years, since I started college actually, and I'm still growing.

So how exactly has theatre helped me grow away from my anxiety more and more? I'm not exactly sure. I started to act more confident in my life, I pretended to stop caring what others thought about what I said or who I was. Turns out, it started working. I was playing a role in my every day life but I started to actually adopt those feelings for myself too. No doubt that being a theatre major has brought me out of my shell, there are things you just have to learn to become comfortable with. You have to learn how to fail and be okay with failing. You have to learn how to better yourself and be okay with bettering yourself. You have to learn that the people around you support you, but if they laugh at you...well it's okay to be laughed at. You have to learn that you can't please everyone and it's okay that you can't please everyone. You have to learn to trust in yourself, to be confident in your talents, to never stop learning.

Theatre has taught me these things and in turn it has helped me with my anxiety in so many ways. I can now say that, though I still suffer with anxiety, I can manage it now better than ever before. I don't know if it's because I am thriving in doing what I love which is in turn making my mental health better or if I'm applying what I've been taught these last three years. I'm not claiming doing what you love will help everyone but it might be enough to make you feel better if even for a little bit. I'm not claiming everyone should do theatre, because it's not for everyone, but if you want to you should try one class. Just one. The things you will learn will help you in many ways and in many parts of your life. Maybe even in some of the same ways it's helped me.