Thread by @businessbarista

31% of all adults will experience an anxiety disorder in their life.

Yet only 36.9% receive treatment.

That's why talking about it & destigmatizing it is so important.

Time to share my experience with anxiety & how I cope 🧵

I've struggled with anxiety for my entire life.

As I've evolved, my anxiety has evolved.

But the feelings from it have remained constant.

Pressure on my chest like a 10lb dumbbell is resting on it.

Shortness of breath like I'm inhaling & exhaling through a straw.

Inability to focus because the distraction of my anxiety is all-encompassing.

During childhood, my anxiety manifested in the form of challenges with separation.

At sleepaway camp, I felt a constant sadness being away from my parents.

In school, I had to leave class regularly to cry.

In adulthood, my anxiety as evolved into something that looks more like OCD.

OCD, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is a mental health condition defined by constant, unwanted thoughts & subsequent rituals to try and rid the thoughts.

I think of OCD as anxiety's cousin.

My OCD has manifested in many ways, but there's always the same unifying theme.

It latches onto something that is very important to me.

Think loved ones, health, career, money.

And it latches onto ambiguity...something that doesn't have a yes or no answer.

I'd be lying if I said my experience with anxiety & OCD wasn't hard.

It's been hard as shit, and at times, debilitating.

Managing anxiety is a part-time job, but it's a non-negotiable job.

Which is why I've spent so much time creating a set of tools to navigate it.

And to do the job well, I've built up a mental wellness stack.

The same way you go to the gym to strengthen your body, I've created a gym to strengthen my mind.

Here's my stack:

1) Daily habits
- Exercise
- Diet
- Sleep
- Medicine

2) Non-daily habits:
- Therapy
- Mindfulness
- Executive Coaching

And how I think about my wellness stack is that these tools work together to do two things:

1) Lower my baseline anxiety from a 5/10 to a 3/10

2) Lower my peaks of anxiety when I'm really suffering

Final thought: everyone's experience is different, but I have found that my daily habits cause/avoid anxiety & my non-daily habits help me navigate anxiety.

That's a glimpse into my experience living with anxiety.

I hope that this has brought a sense of normalcy & belonging to those who experience mental illness.

And I hope that this has brought a bit of education to those who don't.

If you enjoyed this thread, follow me for the good, bad, and ugly behind an entrepreneur's journey:

@businessbarista

If you want my full thoughts on living with anxiety, check out my Founder's Journal episode on it:

bit.ly/3ccOoWg