Personal Narrative: How My Experience That Changed My Life

As a kid I knew there was something wrong with me. I had encountered other shy children but none more reserved than me. I exceeded the allowed cautiousness and was borderline fearful of meeting new people or traveling to new places. Throughout my years I became smarter but stayed afraid, growing more worrisome than my peers. It became apparent to everyone that I was different but no one tried to alleviate my worries, instead they came to accept this as a personality flaw. I however knew better and sought out an explanation.
I was first diagnosed with anxiety in tenth grade by a therapist that I had only met with twice. After a hastily filled out application and a short talk she said it was undeniable. She explained that while others would see my worries as irrational that they were one hundred percent possible in my eyes, and quite probable

While it kept me from doing things it had never kept me from wanting to participate. I made sure that I thought about the situations thoroughly; if I was afraid, what exactly was I afraid of? Were my fears logical? I had to come up with ways to encourage myself to try things out. Eventually I figured out a sort of rewards system, for every new thing I tried I would spend an extra five minutes doing something I was already comfortable doing. I also would take a moment to reflect on the positive effect the experience gave me so I would know to not be discouraged the next time.
Your life can change in a matter of seconds and that is a fact that I had always been fearful of. It was not until being diagnosed with anxiety that I realized there was nothing to worry about. I learned that you can not change what is inevitable but you can change how you approach the situation. By learning to deal with the uneasiness I approached every day with I also learned that expecting the worst is normal, but that it should not stop me from experiencing new