Everyone is a little extra stressed these days due to the effects of COVID stretching across the world. My anxiety got the best of me last month and I landed in the ER due to a panic attack that made me think I was about to die from a heart attack. The anxiety issue is so widespread, I was even interviewed by Health Magazine for an upcoming article on COVID and anxiety.
Yesterday I was having a good day, that is, until a massive panic attack sent me to the hospital. It was a first for me, and I’m the kind of person who will do ANYTHING to avoid the doctor. I will not go unless I seriously think I am dying, and unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. I felt good all morning, texted a few friends about going to the park, went outside to save a frog from the pool, and then thought I was going to die and ended getting a ride to the ER in an ambulance. This is…
As COVID-19 swept through the world and quarantine (or Safer at Home) orders were announced, every introvert was suddenly given permission to just be their natural selves. Stay at home and avoid interacting with people? No problem! That’s what I really wanted to do anyway! In one way, it was a great relief to take a break from socializing, but in another, I worry that it is slowly chipping away at a lifetime of trying to overcome my anxieties. Learning to “Get Out There” As an introvert, I have had to push myself my entire life to “get out there”…
A pandemic is enough to stress out anyone. Throw in a possible quarantine and a lot of unknowns, and it’s easy to fall into the anxiety spiral. Here in Jacksonville we aren’t on total lockdown yet, but you can feel it coming. Every morning I check the news and see it creeping closer and closer to us. And now that they’ve taken the beaches away here, it’s leaving me wishing they’d just do it and get it over with. Flatten the curve already. I feel all out of sorts over this. It’s a really weird mix of: “I must not…
The world has officially gotten weird as the coronavirus has cancelled everything in March and is spreading to April and beyond. I’m currently moving past a state of frustration and disappointment and settling right back into the same place I was working hard to break out of- a neurotic mess of anxiety and stress. My husband finally returned from a very long deployment and life was getting back to normal. I was making social plans, booking trips and filling up the calendar. I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone and volunteering at conventions and applying to be a…