Managing anxiety has been a part of my life for most of adulthood. While it has not prevented me from progressing and developing through numerous high pressure corporate and management roles, every now and then it peaks.
There have been two or three such peak experiences in my life when for a time I have lost the battle. One such event occurred in March 2018.
In all the conventional ways – I was fine. Family, friends, career. From the outside, I have no doubt it looked quite good. And from the inside, I did a pretty good job convincing myself the same. Until the anxiety hit. It came on, as anxiety sometimes can, like a pitch black freight train hurtling towards me.
This was an extremely fast reaction, my brain was suddenly insisting: ‘You’re not cut out for this.’ When I took time out, that initial feeling subsided, but it was then exacerbated by another residual and equally upsetting fear: ‘Can I ever get going again?'
When you’re in that head space you just feel like the world is closing in on you, and there is no escape.
This time, I overcame it due to a combination of professional help and unconditional support from family, friends, clients and colleagues - I received a level of support and compassion I had never thought possible.
I have now decided it is time to stand up and be a leading advocate for mental health issues in Australasia, and indeed the world. If we all choose to be more open about mental health issues, we can remove the stigma from them and put an end, at least in Australasia to people suffering alone in silence.
