It’s so easy to remember the bad times while discounting the good times, isn’t it? Why do we do such a thing?

All I wanted to do was drink my coffee and eat my grilled cheese and then call it a night. The pressure to participate in the upkeep of friendship was too exhausting to even consider. Why bother?

I wanted to re-frame a breakdown into a breakthrough.

Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll share my story with an audience of strangers. I will be re-framing the process of breaking down as one of breaking through.

You know me as the blogger who, once, had to run out of a wedding because dancing to Come on Eileen was too much for my panicky little bunny-rabbit heart. So…why in the hell am I feeling fantastic? Why do I suddenly feel like a new person?

Earlier this week, I wrote about how Panic About Anxiety was chosen as ‘Blog of the Week’ on PA Live!, a lifestyle program local to northeastern Pennsylvania and broadcast on WBRE-TV.

And now, you don’t just have to take my word for it — I’ve got video proof! Check it out here.

I sincerely hope that it brings a few folks within the viewing area to my blog — especially my posts about my own struggle with anxiety might help someone to feel a little bit less alone.

This is probably the right time to tell you a story about one of my last grad school classes: Intercultural Communication. After a semester of learning about various cultural traditions and value orientations, my professor took a few minutes at the end of our very last class to discuss something personal: living in the moment.

It was May, and graduation was right around the corner. The class was filled with undergraduate seniors and second-year grad students — most of whom were about to be finished with school forever.

His speech went a little something like this:

We can’t continue doing things that we don’t like or things we’re not meant to do simply because popular phraseology commands that we strive onward.

This 4th-grade girl is learning how to ski jump — or, well, wanting to learn how to ski jump, as this is her very first time — and you can feel her nerves in this video.

(This is the eighth post in a series called “Anxiety Society” in which I interview everyday anxiety suffers from all walks of life about their struggles, their triumphs, their coping methods, and more. I believe that the more we openly talk about our mental health, the less of a “thing” it becomes. Conversation can reduce stigma, and my interviewees want to be a part of that.)

Meet Larry Nocella: blogger and independent novelist. He sold his first article at the young age of 14 and “has been writing ever since,” he says. By day, Larry is full-time employee at marketing company and a (mostly former) sufferer of anxiety & depression. He lives, writes, and works in the greater Philadelphia area.

Just over a year ago, he “came out” on his blog as a user of antidepressant medication:

Do I tell you something I’d rather keep private? Or do I spill the ugly details?

I’ve decided to share. Why? Because of you of course. Yes, you. Reading this. You. Or maybe someone you know.

Because there is definitely a time when sharing beats silence, and that’s if you can help people. Mom was all about helping people, so while I lean toward her style of privacy, I think she’d appreciate why I’ve decided to come out.

What I’m trying to tell you is I take an anti-depressant. Were you expecting me to say something else?

Larry and I talked about his anxiety, depression, his medication use, and his optimism for the future.

I’m one of those oddballs who looked forward to the opportunity to raise my hand in class & ask questions.