re: Seeing a lot of "mental health" posts here and in the news in general

quote:

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some people live their entire lives in fear of being offended by something or someone

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You're so dumb you manage to confuse 'wokeness' with chemical imbalances leading to clinical depression or anxiety.

In my early to mid 30's, anxiety came out of nowhere and started to hit me hard. I fought it, without treatment, but it was a brutal battle.

Two things really set my anxiety high: driving and work meetings.

If I was in the office, I would just be sitting in the middle of a training session or some random meeting, not even needing to talk, and my skin would crawl. I would get sweaty, short of breath, felt like I was about to pass out. I knew I needed to leave the room to get my wits but, when you're having a panic attack, you worry about even the repercussions of getting up and walking out. Even on phone meetings, if I had to talk, it was pure misery. I would start to panic and completely lose track of my thoughts and what I was saying. As someone who is talented in their field and looked upon as an "answer man", this was NOT good.

With driving, I had a tough time driving my kids five minutes to school. I would, again, get lightheaded, heart pounding, sweaty palms....I described it to my doctor as "nausea of the head", because my head felt just like an upset stomach. I had to drive to Chicago one time with my kids while dealing with this....it was, without a doubt, one of the worst experiences of my life. Imagine a 12 hour heart attack and that's what it felt like.

Finally, I'd had enough and spoke with my doc and he put me on a mild anti-anxiety med. Dude, when I tell you I literally yelled with joy in my car the first time I consciously realized I was driving without anxiety, I am not kidding. It was AMAZING. I was back to being Mr. Reliable at work, speaking out regularly and confidently, and my career skyrocketed.

So don't tell me that anxiety is just a matter of "manning up". I tried that shite, son. It doesn't fricking work when you're trying to battle a literal chemical imbalance in your brain. Getting treatment was the best thing I've ever done.