I have had severe anxiety for as long as I can remember, and I have been struggling with controlling it since I was in high school. I thought I got lucky when it subsided for a while, but it came back full force when I started my freshman year in college. It got to the point last year where I had family and friends making a point to come talk to and tell me about how I wasn't myself anymore. I slept all of the time and rarely had the energy to do anything. It was becoming harder and harder to find joy in my life. All I wanted to do was find some place where I wouldn't feel so closed in. I felt trapped and I didn't know how to get out.

When I went back home for summer break it slowed down quite a bit. As I came into my second year of college, my anxiety was tucked away in the back of my mind. But in the past few weeks, I felt it coming back, I was finding it harder and harder to enjoy life and the things I usually love once again.

But this isn't about how my anxiety beats me time and time again. This is about how I triumphed over my anxiety for the first time in my life. I actually beat it! I beat the feelings of sadness, the feeling of my throat tightening, the thoughts that come with my anxiety like how I'm not good enough. I decided that I had had enough. I forced those terrible thoughts and feelings to the back of my mind. I told myself that I am the only thing standing in my way. I have adopted the method of putting your anxious thoughts away in a "worry box" in my mind. I have been doing this all week and my anxiety has gone down significantly.

For the first time in my life, I truly controlled it! I took myself back from my anxiety! I am telling this story because I am unbelievably proud of myself and I feel that you guys should know it.

I won!