Anxiety

Artist Statement: To be anxious is to feel a knot in your stomach, to sweat, to cower into yourself, to throw up; to be afraid of sneezing in class, of ordering the food you want at a restaurant, of making plans with friends. It is to go to therapy, to take medication, to practice deep breathing; to go weeks and months without the familiar gnawing feeling in your stomach, the tightening in your throat, and then to suddenly feel like you’re suffocating while you’re studying for a math test. But you will also learn to love yourself and all your quirks, to be proud of the progress you’ve made, to be a leader, to be loud, to be instead of speaking up. Because although your anxiety is so much of who you are, you are not consumed by it.