4 Powerful Life Lessons From My Social Anxiety
True growth comes from facing the monsters in your head.
The first time I ever had a panic attack, I was 10 years old and about to give a presentation for my 6th grade class about which brand of popcorn produced the least amount of unpopped kernels.
That day nerves made me physically sick. I became nauseous, developed a sudden sore throat, and had an intense feeling that I was “dying”. Instead of giving my presentation, I fled down to the nurse at school and my mom came and picked me up and took me home for the day.
The second I got home, I wasn’t sick anymore. I was so confused that I pretended to still be sick. Then, an hour later, I went outside to play.
My mom even thought that I was faking sick to get out of the presentation. Can you blame her? It was a suspicious situation, but I honest to God wasn’t faking an illness. I was just anxious.
For most of my life, I had a victim mentality about my anxiety. It was “unfair” that I couldn’t get out of my head. Doing so would require leaving my comfort zone, and for most of my life, that was out of the question.
Today, I’m still a bit anxious, but I’ve come a very long way. These are the 4 most important things that I’ve learned about life from battling…
