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.

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:

I was honored to be chosen as this week’s PA Live! Blog of the Week on WBRE-TV.

There’s only one rule we’re following here on Panic About Anxiety for National Poetry Month — we’re writing haiku. A haiku is a short & simple poem that’s written 5-7-5 — five syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the middle, and 5 syllables in the last line.

That’s it. The rest is up to you.

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

(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.

Becoming a writing athlete. Boy, I like that. I sure as heck can’t get myself to the gym — yeah, that whole agoraphobia thing, um — but I can easily open up my laptop & say something fruitful each day. Right? Right!?!