Living with anxiety is a daily struggle. In our society today, people tend to “glamorize” mental health issues, thinking that they’re trendy, or cool to have. As someone who has dealt with anxiety almost my entire life, I will be the first to say there is nothing cool about it. Anxiety is like a dark cloud that follows you around, and just when you think you’ve finally gotten away, it comes back with an even tighter grasp. It’s easy to look at the negatives of living with anxiety, but sometimes the most therapeutic thing you can do is to look back at how your struggles have changed you for the better.

I started my battle with anxiety when I was in 5th grade, it was tough, but it was manageable. It wasn’t until I went off to college that things got really bad for me, I had a terrible time adjusting to being away from home, and having to deal with the stress that college brings. During the summer before my junior year, I hit rock bottom. My anxiety had taken over my life to the point where I couldn’t be further than five minutes from my house without having a panic attack. I was on edge 24/7, I had to take my classes online because I wasn’t capable of driving three hours to where I went to school, I always had to make up excuses as to why I couldn’t go certain places with my friends because I was ashamed to tell them the truth. I spent all my time at home, and I didn’t think I would ever be able to get past it; but I also knew this wasn’t the life I wanted to live. I wasn’t going to let my fears stand in the way of my dreams. I got up every day and set goals for myself to get back to where I wanted to be.

Teaching myself not to be afraid was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Living with anxiety, you know how it feels to face the things that scare you the most, it’s more than feeling afraid, it’s feeling like you’re drowning and yet you still have to find a way to push through it. Every day I worked harder than I thought I was capable of, and having anxiety taught me lessons that have made me into the person I am today.

Anxiety teaches self-love. When you suffer with a mental health issue it can make you feel hopeless, and at times worthless, but it can also teach you a lot about self love and acceptance. Your anxiety is a part of you but it does not define you. Your anxiety makes you unique, it makes you look at things from a different lens that the rest of the world. Living with anxiety is not ideal, but it’s the hand you were dealt and it makes you, you.

Anxiety teaches strength. Not many people are capable of standing up to their biggest stressors, but those of us with anxiety do it every single day. It’s not easy waking up every morning knowing the struggles we’ll have to face, but we do it; and we do it with bravery. That’s not to say that we don’t have days where it feels like too much to handle, but we continue to push on and keep going because we are determined to live our lives without being held down by anxiety.

Anxiety teaches compassion. When you know what it’s like to suffer, you don’t ever want anyone else to feel the way you do. I honestly am grateful for the compassion that I have learned from living with anxiety, it opened my eyes to the world in a different way. We know what it’s like to struggle in secret, and we want to help those who are struggling as well. Compassion like that can’t be taught, it’s learned through experiences that not a lot of people have, look at that as an absolute blessing.

I know how terrible anxiety is, I know how it can literally ruin your life, because it did that to me. But you have to be resilient. Refuse to give up. Refuse to be tied down by your fears. I know it’s hard to look at the positive side of such a difficult struggle, but you are so much stronger, braver, and tougher than you think. Give yourself credit, praise yourself for all of the accomplishments you’ve made, you’re only going to keep getting better.