Overcoming Anxiety

September 2018. Back home after a long day at work, I stop in place as I suddenly feel my chest and my throat tighten. Breathing requires more effort and I feel rather faint because of it. Moments later, my hands go numb. My mind is racing—I’m going to die, I tell myself repeatedly as I made my way to the nearest emergency room.

“You’ve probably had a panic attack,” the doctor tells me when he finds nothing physically wrong with my body. Initially, this was difficult for me to stomach—I’ve always seen myself as a rather carefree individual. But factors such as stress crept up on me and blew up when I least expected them to. In the months that follow, I