What an Anxiety Disorder is Like and Why Mine Was a Gift
A look into the bizarre fears that ran me throughout my anxiety disorder, what I learned that helped me work through this disorder, and why we all need a mental fitness program.
Hello, good people! I’ve been fairly open over the past years about the all-encompassing anxiety disorder that I had in college, which is known as Pure O. Recently I made a video where I go a little deeper into that experience and share the most important takeaways that I’ve carried with me from that time.
I made this video for my school in order to promote a Mental Fitness program that I am running. Every year for the past half-decade or more, I’ve had students confide in me about their various mental disorders. Usually they have no idea about my own history, and I’m always struck by how much it seems to mean to them to hear that I dealt with something similar and that I’ve come out better for it.
As I said, I’ve written about this before, but I wanted to go on video for all the students and staff at my school. There is something infinitely more human about seeing a human talk on video. So, here it is:
My hope in sharing this is that it helps you in some way. Maybe that means it helps you start to believe you can improve your mental state. Maybe it helps you better understand someone else who is struggling. As these charts show, this is particularly relevant for modern parents and educators.
Or, maybe, you have nothing resembling a disorder, but my video helps you see that you can still take steps to improve your mind, your perception, and your life.
Thank you very much for reading and sharing with anyone who you think would find value here!
I firmly believe that we all should have a basic toolkit for understanding what is going in our mind and knowing how to work on it. This is a fundamental skillset for creating a good life. Nothing could be more core.
I’ve written about that before, if you’d like to dig into it more:
This too:
Also, if you want to better understand some of the societal changes that led to diminishing mental health, I could not recommend Dr. Jonathan Haidt and his substack newsletter any more:
Thanks again! Carry the Fire!
Shane