Anything is possible….

So I am going to be super-vulnerable. And I am not seeking reassurance or counter-arguments to the thoughts that riddled my brain yesterday. I am sharing this because I think we need to be more honest about what we go through in order to support each other.

Yesterday was a very anxious day for me. I had left work early the day before because I was hit with a nasty case of puking. Dunno if it was food poisoning or what, but I had to go home. I put myself to bed before 7pm and slept soundly through the night. But from the moment I woke up, I felt uneasy.

Shortly after I got to work, I got an email alert that one of my professors had posted part of our grades on our midterm. I checked mine and discovered that I had a C on the test so far. As someone who works really hard to actually learn the stuff, this was hard. Honestly, I thought I hadn’t done well, but this was more reality than I was prepared for.

From that moment on, I felt overwhelmed by anxiety. Every little thing got under my skin. Little annoyances made me feel ridiculously angry. It started to snowball. I couldn’t seem to get a grip on my thoughts or attitude.

In an attempt to calm myself, I did what I do when I need to center… I hunted down memes. I searched for quotes and pictures about anxiety and stress. I found a few that resonated and shared them. I could feel myself feeling a bit better.

Then something remarkable happened. A friend who knows me… knows how my brain works and how I respond to stress… texted me. She asked if I was okay and asked what was stressing me.

That texting conversation lasted quite a while and seriously was better than therapy. She helped me to dig myself out from under my own thoughts. She reminded me of my own strengths and that I was being way too hard on myself. I was able to finally put a few thoughts together and slowly came out of the fog that was my anxiety.

Thank you for that, Steph.

I got lots of work done after that. I was able to meet with my boss and be myself. I was positive and laughed. I helped solve some problems and even managed to make a phone call…which if you know me, is my least favorite thing to do.

I went on to class where we actually talked about self-care. And I thought about how my friend had picked up on my meltdown, had reached out, and had helped me intensely.

This is what we need more of, guys. We need to watch our friends on social media. Invest time in learning how others act and look for moments of uncharacteristic behavior. And then, when you notice something–say something. Don’t wait. Maybe it is nothing, but I am going to venture that it is probably something.

We are in this together, friends. This messy, crazy, hard thing we call life—we are totally in this together. And we can get through it together.