# What made you decide to finally take action to overcome anxiety?



## stars (Nov 20, 2009)

Anyway..just wanna hear people's stories..


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## Saekon (Jan 13, 2010)

I want there to be more to life than just living, procreating, dying and emotions. I want to find something, I want to find lots of things, things that can transcend the purpose of living. Not just having fun; I want to remove a brick and watch a castle fall, I want to make things happen and keep things moving. The world seems so boring in my eyes and I want to make it less boring, my world, at the very least. 

I realised this a while back, I got tired of my SA, of being held back by it, I got frightened of living this boring monotonous life until I died, flitting through each day like a ghost, so I started to make changes.


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## stars (Nov 20, 2009)

Saekon said:


> I want there to be more to life than just living, procreating, dying and emotions. I want to find something, I want to find lots of things, things that can transcend the purpose of living. Not just having fun; I want to remove a brick and watch a castle fall, I want to make things happen and keep things moving. The world seems so boring in my eyes and I want to make it less boring, my world, at the very least.
> 
> I realised this a while back, I got tired of my SA, of being held back by it, I got frightened of living this boring monotonous life until I died, flitting through each day like a ghost, so I started to make changes.


Great..yea the monotony is the worst..


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## strawberryjulius (Jun 28, 2009)

I guess I realised that there's lots of things I want to do with my life (travel, work in a lot of places, try new things, etc.) and I can't have SA holding me back.


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## broseph (Jan 18, 2010)

At first I thought it was just a passing phase and I'd overcome it with time. I was for the most part happy with my first two years in high school so I wasn't too worried about my anxiety. Then things got really depressing and I still had my social anxiety so I here I am. Since high school I've for the most part taken care of my depression but now I'm working really hard on overcoming my anxiety.


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## Zelka (Feb 9, 2010)

I had a nasty fight with a friend (and "just" an online friend too) partially due to my obsessiveness and jealousy and just thinking too much...and realized how small my world was and how much it hurt to lose a connection.


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## wxolue (Nov 26, 2008)

I feel like I can be more successful without anxiety. Also, I feel like I would enjoy life so much more without anxiety. There's more out there than feeling awful every time I walk out my front door. Being used to being upset 90% of the time will make recovery feel that much better.


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## AussiePea (Mar 27, 2007)

I realised I was missing out on opportunities and I was simply not enjoying life, and there was no way I was going to let some irrational fears determine my life for me. It was a difficult period when I was pushing myself into situations which literally made me ill to the stomach but it has paid off and I couldn't be happier with my life now as a result. So you can do it and don't let the setbacks put you off, because pushing through those is what builds you as a person as well.


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## Miss Meggie (Nov 19, 2009)

I've been this way for 22 years. I don't want to be like this any more. There are so many things that I want to do but haven't, opportunities that I've passed and things I've lost, because of my social anxiety. 
My boyfriend and best friend graduated in October and I've been alone since. I was very depressed for a while. 
I want to make new friends. (I want to make friends, _period_.) I want to succeed as I finish school, get a job after graduation in May. I want to be able to move out of my house, take a job that's _not_ 15 minutes away from home if I choose to. I don't want my reason for _not_ taking a job in Chicago or Florida or England to be my anxiety.
I don't want my family and friends to have to worry about me. I don't want to make my parents and my boyfriend cry any more. I don't want my best friend to worry that he's going to lose _another_ friend to suicide. I don't want to be a burden.
I don't want to drive my boyfriend away.
And I don't want to be this way any more.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

I needed to know what was really going on with me. I was in the fetal position rocking thinking I was going crazy. That was in the spring and summer of 2004. It has been a long road of self-discovery. It has been difficult, but well worth it.


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## stars (Nov 20, 2009)

Great stories..many of them are similar to the reason i'm working hard to overcome this disorder ..sometimes we do have to hit rock botttom to work our way up.. but that's not so bad it means we have solid ground under our feet and nowhere to go but up..


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## IllusionOfHappiness (Sep 6, 2007)

Well. Who wants to feel like ****? Gets old real fast. There wasn't really a deciding factor or event for me. I stopped being in denial about my problems at age 16 or so, convinced myself that I was at least going to try (I am still trying), and convinced my family to the best of my ability that I'm not "shy". The problem that came with accepting my anxiety/depression was that I sometimes used it as an excuse to not do things. Though, not accpeting it would never have given me the opportunity to improve at all.


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## low (Sep 27, 2009)

I fealt emotionaly tortured and fed up, and so decided the only way out other than the other option was to get better.


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## Darkhadia (Feb 8, 2009)

I want a life . I want friends, a relationship, all those every day things that people take for granted. I want to talk to people without being constantly worried about what i'm saying and how I look. I want to feel beautiful and capable of talking to people. Basically I just want a life. Working on it all the time despite setbacks it is (slowly) getting better!


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## snapples (Feb 11, 2010)

So I'll be a good example for my potential future kids. 
Also to spread positivity like how some positive people effected me.


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## mechuga (Dec 2, 2009)

I went to a university an hour away from home knowing only one other person. The straw that broke the camels back, though, was when a cute boy in one of my classes drew a smiley face on my notebook and I was too anxious to talk to him. I decided I was fed up with being terrified all the time, and I had my first appointment with my counselor later that day. 

(hence the siggy =] )


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

^nice story mechuga =)

I was growing tired of feeling really lonely all the time, I don't think living that way can be good for any soul. I'm really glad I sook help.


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## shadowgardens (Nov 6, 2009)

I went to a business school for medical assisting, something I really wanted to do. Finished school, 20,000 dollars of debt, then went for a month long internship. Slept about 2 hours night, constant anxiety, it was awful. It never got easier, and b the end I felt like nothing was real.

I made it through, I had to to graduate. But it made me realize that I couldn't pretend I didn't need help and that there was no way I could work without getting better.


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## seastar (Mar 27, 2009)

Simple, I turned 30 (and it's true what they say). Time is running out. I want to feel adventure and excitement once more.


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## shimmer1221 (Feb 18, 2010)

I find comfort in reading all these posts. I myself wish a lot of the same. I want to meet friends, not be worried about what others are thinking when in a conversation with someone else. Just being able to concentrate on the content being delivered than the thoughts in my head that im being judged and criticized for the way i look and how i act, my expressions, every little thing. 
I just feel a lot of emotional highs thinking about the life of being free and happy and I want that badly. I want to be able to do all the normal things in life and i want to be liked and i want to be interesting ... i want to make others happy. all my life i've worried about being accepted. it's controlled my life..


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## brokensaint (Aug 27, 2009)

I saw my old friends leave high school and enter into university where they made more friends, met girls, had fun partying and got diplomas ect. and I told myself that I deserved that. Pretty much. So I realized that I had a disorder and that I owed it to myself to enter a program and recover for it. I'm not done living yet, not even close.


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## zoe the cat (Feb 27, 2010)

My mothers long term illness and brush with death made my anxiety resurface. I've had it on and off for twenty years and thought I'd get over it. After she got better I thought my SA would get better but it didn't.
Finally, just watching tv shows with close groups of friends made me cry and say 'I want that'. I have not had friends outside of work since college 14 years ago. 
Basically utter loneliness made me want to change.


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## Positive future (Feb 11, 2010)

Hmm, I have been working several hours a week on organising and decluttering for the last 9 months and made huge progress. I have been meditating. THese things have helped me to feel less overwhelmed. I think the success I have had with decluttering has made me realise that I can take small steps and achieve something which is huge. Meditating has helped me build a stronger sense of self. Now I feel - yes, I actually can change the way I am socially, whereas before I felt so overwhelmed/depressed that I didn't think I could.


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## Knowla (Feb 23, 2010)

"Finally, just watching tv shows with close groups of friends made me cry and say 'I want that'. I have not had friends outside of work since college 14 years ago." 

I've done that


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## Knowla (Feb 23, 2010)

I did not need to take action for SA because I did not have it.

And then I was afraid to leave the house because there were people out there. 

And then I realized, I may have a problem. 

"I'm not depressed so why can't I leave the house?"
I worked really hard to get rid of my depression and I was successful. Once the depression was gone (mostly) I was able to see how much anxiety I had as well. (That is a suck reward btw).


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## Lasair (Jan 25, 2010)

I did a week of work experience and realised if I truly want to go and do my dream job I need help!


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## fictionz (Nov 18, 2006)

I lived my younger days wondering why I do not have as many friends as others. I'd keep thinking to myself that these people just all talk too much and say bad stuff about other people, yet they were having fun with the people who are with them while I was alone with no one, constantly being afraid of what I do or what I say.

I was always afraid of what others think of me that I didn't do what I wanted to do, and worse I kept giving myself excuses to why I didn't do it. I was always in denial. I have made people disappointed in me because of my fears, I even disappointed myself. There has to be much more to life than what I had, so much offering and happiness that other people had, regardless of who they are as a person. 

And then I think, I could change into someone better. I no longer want to disappoint myself or anyone else, but at the same time I know that I am human and I will always make mistakes so I will not be so hard on myself anymore. I believe that it's never too late and somehow, I will make it.


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