Watch as I explain why I do what I do and why I feel so comfortable sharing all of my panic and anxiety-related sorrows, triumphs, dilemmas, and baby steps with the world.

Tell your story. Share your experience. Mental health affects everything we do.

Instead of paying attention to my breath or my heart, we paid attention to a raisin.

What do you have to say about anxiety? Can you work it into a haiku?

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.

But it’s finally time to emerge from those fluorescent-lit caves that we call home during the coldest months. It’s time to get back outside and reconnect with nature after avoiding it for so long.

(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 Googled “most relaxing song ever”. And what did I expect to find? Well, a bunch of songs esteemed Most Relaxing by the court of popular opinion. But instead, I found…science. Maybe.

At 5:30 this morning, I found myself curled up with a bathrobe and a rug.

Let’s say you had a rough day. You didn’t stick sandpaper up to today’s date on the calendar, did you?