I always had slight anxiety and worry growing up but i was always able to shake it off. I was always one to let things go. 1 year ago i became very sick with the flu. I thought i was going to die and was having really bad anxiety. i was able to recover from the flu and my anxiety went away. I never felt that way before so i felt a little scared that i felt anxiety like that for a long amount of time. I didnt think anything of it i thought i was just anxious because of the way i was feeling from the flu. 6 month after that i suffered severe anxiety attacks to the point of not being able to eat or function for 2 weeks straight. Anytime i felt like maybe i was getting sick anxiety started to come back. i was constantly on edge. i couldnt stop my heart from racing. all i wanted to do was sleep. I never wanted to go on medication. I was so Against it. But after 2 weeks of feeling like i was going to die every day, just from the feelings of anxiety i caved and went on lexapro. The feeling of anxiety for two weeks straight felt like a lifetime. i started very low 2.5 mg but it didnt do anything. I am a very small girl so i wanted to start off low because i was afraid of side affects. well starting lexapro was not easy! i bumped up to 5mg and once i did that i started to feel so much better. my anxiety was gone! i still felt nervous, lost my Appetite which sucked to begin with because dealing with anxiety for months I lost 5 to 10 pounds. the first 2 months sucked i didnt feel my best until after 2 months. after two months i felt like i had my life back. i didnt do it on my own i also talked to a Therapist every week. That helped me Tremendously on how to cope with anxiety. i started meditating every day. i was journaling. i was making time for myself. i am a mother of 3 and a step mother of 2 so i wasnt giving myself the love and space i needed. i am still at 5mg for 5 months now and i still have Anxious thoughts once and a while but i am able to distract myself and always tell myself its just anxiety. being able to except anxiety is a big part. I started to educate myself to understand what anxiety is and know that im not alone. Understanding the feelings and the thoughts that you can have while having anxiety was a big Savior to me. i finally didnt feel like i was crazy. After experiencing the anxiety that I have been through it has made me a stronger, more positive, happy person. I’m able to focus on my kids, I am able to be there for my kids, I’m able to be there for my husband, while taking care of myself. I just wanted to let everybody know that it is not impossible to live with anxiety. You need to get yourself a great therapist, a great doctor and a whole lot of support to get you through it. it’s definitely not easy to do on your own but you need to be able to put trust in yourself in order to get through it. you need to have mantras every day to tell yourself something good. tell yourself what you’re grateful for every day no matter what! Different things every day! You will start to realize things you never realized before. i’m not fully recovered from anxiety but I am so happy at where I am and the person that I’ve become and the way that anxiety has made me a see things a lot differently that I can say I am very happy where I am and how far I’ve come and I will never let anxiety Take over me again. I hope that my story will be able to help somebody else living with anxiety.