Anonymous

“I have always suffered with anxiety from a young age but I put up with it not knowing how much it would affect me as I grew up. It got to the stage of constant worries that prevented me from doing day to day activities. I hated going out of the house on my own, I couldn’t pay in a shop or use public transport by myself. The thought of doing any of these activities made me very worried and most of the time I would avoid them the best I could. I started to realise I wanted a change so my counsellor and I set small achievable goals for myself which ended up really making a difference. For example, one of the first goals I had was getting on a bus by myself and I did this by firstly having my mum walk me to the bus stop then I would get on by myself and it then progressed to me being able to get on and pay by myself without the fear of something going wrong ruining it for me. Another of my goals was paying at a shop by myself and this took a while for me to complete as I would get worried that I would give the wrong amount or that the cashier wouldn’t be able to hear what I was saying but once I eventually did it I felt a lot better. I started a new college in September and I was really worried about getting the train to college and also about getting lost. I overcame these fears by going on the train with my mum a couple times beforehand so that I knew where to go and which train to get on. The first few days at college I luckily had a friend so it made it easier finding classrooms as I wasn’t alone and after a couple of weeks I knew my way so didn’t worry as much. I have also just managed to apply for a job which has been a goal of mine for a while, I did it in stages by making my cv then applying to indeed and then eventually applying to a job. I feel so much better after achieving these goals and they really helped me develop in my anxiety. I can’t believe I actually achieved all of the above and I don’t think I would have done until I realised I had a problem and spoke to someone about it.”