Personal Narrative: Anxiety In Boys Catholic High School

Anxiety. Something I have lived with my whole life, something that I thought was normal, something I thought everyone just dealt with. Never did I realize that what I was going through was not normal, and it was most certainly not healthy. For the first 14 years or so of my life, I survived by simply ignoring the feeling, acting like nothing was wrong, and never saying a word to anyone. That is, until I no longer could. After years of being friends with the same people I wanted a change in my life, so I took the road less traveled and went to an all boys Catholic high school rather than my towns public school. It was around this transitional period that I first realized the anxiety I was having was not normal. The past 3 years of high school are a blur in my mind. Not due to the idea that “time flies when you are having fun” but rather the opposite. My anxiety grew worse and worse with each coming day, yet I bottled it up, never telling anyone about the inner war waging on inside of my brain. I was having almost daily panic attacks, which made even coming to school a challenge, and doing well in class an even harder

It was as if the weight of the Earth was lifted off my shoulders, as I was finally able to live my life without having to bottle up my problems. My parents helped me seek help and get the proper medication, and my life has never been better. In school I am finally able to enjoy learning, and am doing astronomically better in my classes. The new relationships I am now able to make with my teachers and friends are something my previous self never thought would have been possible. After struggling with this illness for so long I know now that nothing is impossible to overcome. There is no obstacle that I won't be able to conquer, not only in college, but for the rest of my life. My anxiety is no longer going to determine my future for me, I