Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Episode 11 - Anxiety - My solo act

Erin: Today, I want to talk about anxiety.

Now, anxiety is one of those taboo words that a lot of people don't want to talk

about.

Um, because it has this negative stigma attached to it.

But I wanted to, I want to just read you a statistic.

Music: Um, and

Erin: this is from the anxiety and depression association of America.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U S affecting 40

million adults in the United States.

Age 18 and older, 40 million adults in the United States, age 18 and older have

anxiety

disorder.

I can say in my own experience that anxiety is not prone to any specific type

of person.

So in my line of work, um, it's very fast paced.

It's very stressful, and I kind of thrive in that environment.

And.

Unfortunately, I suffer from anxiety.

A lot of people don't know that because I'm very good at masking it, but I have

had panic attacks.

It's not fun is the worst thing.

If you ever had a panic attack, I am sorry, and I feel you because it's the

worst.

My girlfriend, the first time I had it.

That, and this is the first and only time it actually got really bad is I didn't

know what was happening.

I thought it was dying.

Literally my, my hands started cramping.

My body was just, my legs were shaking uncontrollably.

I mean, it was awful.

Like my heart, just like, it felt like my chest was going to explode.

My girlfriend was with me at the time and she.

Music: Well was just like, what

Erin: is happening?

And I was like, I think I'm dying.

I literally think I'm dying.

And so she, we got in a cab and she took me to the hospital and I walked in and my

hands had like, clawed, I mean, it was, it was horrendous.

Like I couldn't, like, my joints were so stiff, like I could not move.

I was like a stick figure walking.

And I walked straight into the ER.

There was this nurse outside and he like ran and grabbed me and helps me walk in

and they just gave me this pill and said, sit down, here's a bag, breathe through

it.

You're okay.

You're going through a panic attack.

And that was the beginning of a very long journey in terms of.

Me figuring out what the heck is this?

I've never experienced this before.

This was awful.

And now it's with me for like the rest of my life.

My gosh, what can I do?

So I started going to therapy because there's breathing techniques you can do.

And a lot of times anxiety is brought up.

Um, at least in my condition, my condition, and my situation.

Um.

That it's not being able to have control over certain aspects of my life.

Right.

And the time, maybe it was like my career or my relationships or whatever, but I

just didn't have full control.

And to me that brought an anxiety.

And so.

Throughout my life.

I have really proactively worked on this.

I do yoga every day.

I do breathing exercises.

I really make a point to do my own self care, to help with this anxiety.

The environment I work in is very fast paced.

It's very stressful, and I was talking to a colleague a while ago.

We were on this party, it was a party boat thing.

And for me, again, anxiety comes from feeling a loss of control.

So if I'm on a boat and I am out to sea and I can't get off the boat anytime I

want, that's going to make me a little bit anxious.

So I went into it fully knowing like, okay, I got this, I'll be fine.

And you know, I was just casually talking to someone about it.

That I was so happy.

So many people came because this can be kind of an anxious and stressful

environment.

And the colleague I was talking to just kind of looked at me like.

Well, why?

And I was like, well, you know, it's feeling a loss of control.

And their response was, well, we're all friends here.

Like, that's stupid.

You shouldn't feel anxious.

Just get over it.

And that person clearly does not have anxiety.

And for anyone out there who has anxiety or has experienced anxiety, knows this

very well.

Nobody asks to be anxious.

I don't enjoy it.

It's actually something that's super frustrating and me trying to fight the

anxiety makes me even more anxious.

So for somebody to tell me, Oh, just get over it.

That's not how it works at all, actually, that that would be great.

Then there'd be no need for therapy.

There'd be no need for medications.

Right?

There's a plethora of medications out there to help with various anxiety

disorders.

Um, there'd be no need for.

This whole self-improvement, mindfulness, meditation, journaling, none of that would

even be needed because we could just just get over it.

It's so easy, right?

So anyways, I'm bringing this up because I suffer from it.

I know so many other women who suffer for from it.

Pardon me?

And I think the more we talk about it, the less stigmatized it is.

And.

Hopefully less judged because it's super common and it's not a bad thing.

It doesn't stop me from doing what I want to do.

Yeah.

It's a little harder at times, but through me sharing my experiences with others who

also have similar experiences, you know, you feel more empowered and stronger to

get through it.

So.

Hopefully, hopefully you don't suffer from anxiety cause it sucks.

But if you do, I would love to hear from you about how you get through it.

I need tips or tricks you have to kind of get through that anxious state that, Oh,

it's so sex when you're in it, but once you're out of it, you're like, thank God.

All right guys, thanks so much for watching.