M. Aline

Anxiety is like a bullet. Sometimes when you least expect it, it finds itself lodged in your head and maybe even your chest. Sometimes it’s easier to remove if it’s not too close to the heart. And then sometimes it brings great pain to remove, as if you are pulling a piece of your heart along with it. Anxiety isn’t just a feeling you get on the first day of school or when your crush walks by you.

There’s such a stigma around anxiety. Am I allowed to say that? Because it’s true. I know some people want to believe that mental health is something normal to talk about, and while I myself believe that to be true, not everyone believes the same way I do. While the new generation is embracing and making more conversation to open those doors, those doors aren’t yet fully open. If they were, suicide rates wouldn’t be half as high as they are. There is still a stigma around mental health, whether you believe it or not. I’ve seen it with my own eyes as someone who has personally struggled.

With that being said, I’m opening a door here. I’ve been suffering from anxiety for the past six years now, since I was twelve years old. It hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. And I know I haven’t touched on the topic, but being in the middle of a worldwide pandemic doesn’t exactly help matters much. That’s why I haven’t really talked about it is because that in itself triggers my anxiety.