Changes can sometimes be tricky. When you have an anxiety disorder they can be triggering . For me panic attacks mostly occur in cases when I feel "trapped " for example in traffic, in queues, or when in very crowded places. I was having a really hard time even before the pandemic spread. I had just dropped out of University because I was too sick to continue doing something I didn't really feel I truly wanted and I was struggling with finding myself without being labeled as a "student". The unnecessary stares and unwanted opinions of others on my decisions were hurtful and didn't really help...

My battle with anxiety started during summer 2018. From when I was diagnosed I knew I was about to embark on a tough and challenging journey. Not just me, but everyone who was close to me as well. It was really hard to come to terms with the fact that it would take time to be okay again and even harder to accept that it could hit me again at any time. My dad had battled with anxiety a few years earlier, so he knew what was going on and he was the greatest help. It didn't take long for my siblings, parents and close friends to get used to my disorder. They knew what to do when I wasn't feeling...

I have struggled with my mental health for the past few years. It's not easy. The stigma is undeniably present, and therapy can be too expensive for most people and so getting help is often not an option. In my journey I've been lucky enough to have a supporting system. A loving family and supportive friends. But I'd lie if I said I didn't experience judgement from others. People don't like to believe what they can't see and fail to realise that you can be physically fine and still be in unbearable pain. From my own experience I think the key factor is to educate yourself regardless if you...

The word "recovery" often sounds like something hard to do but very beautiful. But again it depends on one's perception of beauty. Recovery is messy. It is never linear. Especially if what you're recovering from isn't physical . It is feeling your best one day, being convinced it is all over, all in the past to waking up feeling down the next day. Its two steps forward and one back. But its moving. Not stoping. Like many others, I grew up believing solely on the physical part of pain. Never associated it with what would later become a life lesson to me. Anxiety not only scares you but it also...

Having a magical childhood you can always go back to with such nostalgia for all of the happy memories I think has an impact on the adults we become. I don't know how one would deal with having being denied such an experience that is one of our basic and most important rights. This year I wish with my entire heart that no child's childhood gets stolen. I wish all conflicts, world issues that are affecting children come to an end. This Children's Day I am more aware than ever of the real struggles children face. Of how they go through such challanges too big and difficult for their age. I will...

As a teenager I had little information on Mental Health. I would read articles of people telling their stories, I would believe they were in pain, however I just could not imagine it being that bad. They were just feelings. They'd come and go! Nothing to be taken seriously , I'd think to myself. I didn't have the slightest idea of how wrong I was. But during the entire 12 years of school I had maybe 2 to 3 times ever learned about anything mental health related, adding to that where I live mental health is never discussed, never acknowledged, most importantly you are rarely believed...