and had a panic attack, only to await the same question for them when they reentered the classroom. They didn’t know why it bothered them so much, so they knew something was not right.

     “I was so overwhelmed and I was losing it,”  anonymous said. “A sixth grader shouldn’t get that stressed out.”

     From here, their anxiety only got worse and their sport had a huge negative role on their anxiety. They were in constant fear of losing their position, rank and judgment from their coaches which spiraled into a series of panic attacks. 

     “[The coaches] are very mean and I get very anxious every practice because if I play badly, I will get less playing time and it will affect the way they look at me,” anonymous said.

     After they had been struggling with anxiety throughout their day-to-day life they finally started to go on medication. With the medication, it greatly affected their social life. Before their anxiety was inflamed, they were very social and willing to talk to everyone with a welcoming attitude, but now they can’t bring their emotions very upfront anymore which causes them to revert to their closest friends.

     “Sometimes I don’t even go to lunch because I don’t want to see anyone,” anonymous said.

     In the process of a panic attack, they experience the feeling of their heart sinking and an increase in heart rate. It can be followed by a constant focus on the attack to the brink of tears, or even to the point where they cannot breathe.

     “It is kind of like you can’t change the way your body is moving,” anonymous said.

     To calm themself down, they try to take their mind off of whatever is bothering them by turning to drawing, reading and going outside. Anything they can do to distract themselves works, but they have discovered that these activities are the most effective.

     “Getting on my phone doesn’t help [because] I have to be away from everything,” anonymous said. “It has to be just me.”  

     Anonymous has siblings with anxiety that have it just as bad, if not worse than them, so when they turned to their parents for help, they struggled due to the fact that their parents were already looking after their siblings. With that, they started to turn to the second-most individuals almost as close as family, their friends. They believe that even though their parents tried to help, it was difficult for them to truly see what was going on so they turned to the help of their friends instead.

     “They never really expected it in me because I was the happy child, so I went to my friends,” anonymous said.

     Social media can play a big part in one's emotions and anonymous tells everyone that is struggling with their issue, to stay off their phone. You can never really know what could happen on social media and that can create anxiety for anyone. The biggest piece of advice anonymous can give others is to take their mind off of their phones and focus on themselves and how to make themselves feel better instead.

     “It makes me so anxious trying to keep up with it and seeing what girls say,” anonymous said. “Just seeing how people can be harsh on it I just try to find an escape.”

     You may never know what someone is going through, but anonymous knows how bad anxiety can get and how it can affect others, especially those who are new to anxiety. Anonymous now has found those who support them and is battling their challenges to overcome this issue one day at a time.

     “You feel like you are alone but you aren’t,” anonymous said. “There is always someone or something that can help you.”