I overcame my health anxiety

When you want to escape emotional pain so badly that you manufacture physical pain.

I resent the fact that my parents and authority figures did not equip me with the tools to handle life.

In my mid-twenties I have finally figured out what to do, however, that does not take away the trauma. I am still scared but I know how to calm myself down enough to keep going with life. When I was younger I did not know how to keep going so I stayed, I stayed stuck and laid in bed and laid in my misery totally dismayed and distraught by the happenings of my life.

Suddenly I developed all of these health symptoms that were passed off as anxiety, waking up in a sweat, seeing floaters, pain in my joints, etc, my eyes would swell up and I would get styes which of course are normal stress responses. I assumed this was the start of something much worse. That I was somehow unlucky. I then developed OCD and compulsively went to the doctor desperate for answers. It was torturous.

Nothing was ever wrong with my body but the emotional pain I experienced, the hurt, the confusion, etc was too much to ignore so my body did its best to help me to wake me up. After years of healing and growing I have made friends with my health anxiety, which validates that my emotions are real. Once I started…