She Has Anxiety

Two days ago, my oldest daughter had her first anxiety attack. We are in the midst of having her officially diagnosed with anxiety and/or ADHD, but seeing as I have anxiety myself, I knew exactly what was happening when it happened.

Internally, my own heart raced. I felt myself wanting to panic. But instead, I stopped. I put my hands on her shoulders, and I did what my therapist told me to do when my own attacks or episodes happened with either anxiety or BPD.

Tell me five things you can see…

Tell me five things you can hear…

We went down the list of the five senses, and in a few minutes, my child was back. Her breathing had calmed, the tears dried, and she went back to playing Minecraft.

So what set her off? I was watching Spirited Away, and something in the movie scared her. She didn’t even know what it was, but it scared her and she went into a full blown anxiety attack where she was breathing way too fast, she started to cry, she said she didn’t know what was happening, didn’t know what scared her.

Two days ago, I realized I’m on this journey for a reason that is bigger than myself.

My mother didn’t have the tools available to explain to me what I felt, what was happening, or how to live with these mental issues. Because of that, I went through life struggling to relate to my peers. I was an outcast. I behaved in such irrational ways that I was judged harshly by those I attended school with. I did not enjoy school at all because of these things.

In all honesty, I was going to stop my therapy journey after tomorrow’s appointment, because I felt like it was doing no good and I wanted to spend my weekly copay on something else. But after what happened two days ago, I see the good in what I’ve been learning. Just because life has been relatively calm and I haven’t had much of a need for the skills I’ve learned, doesn’t mean I won’t ever need them. My kids will need them. Our loved ones may need them. Our friends may need them. We can help others who may not have the means to help themselves.

Don’t quit. Keep moving forward. ❤