Intro

    

    Welcome to Monica's blog:) A little bit about me first, I am a senior marketing major at Bradley University. I was born and raised in Wheaton IL and that is still my current residence when I am not at school. I have 2 older brothers who live in Chicago and St. Louis, both obtaining jobs after graduation. My dad moved to North Carolina and remarried, and my mom also remarried. As everyone knows, in 2020, covid happened. I was a senior in high school and lost a lot from covid and the pandemic. 

    The summer of 2020 is when I had my first panic attack, I had no idea what was happening and I was so scared. I was eating chicken tenders at my friend's house when all of a sudden my stomach started to hurt, I was confused as to why I was feeling nauseous out of nowhere for no reason. I sat on the couch and my hands started shaking, which spread throughout my body. This is when I knew something was going on. The friend's house that I was at recognized what was going on and brought me upstairs to her room to try and help calm me down. By that time I was full-on hyperventilating and sobbing my eyes out. After doing that for a couple of hours I was finally able to calm down and she told me I was having a panic attack, I was confused because that had never happened to me before and I never really had anxiety before that. I was then diagnosed with anxiety and depression that summer. 

    It's been almost 4 years since then and I have learned so much throughout my experience and struggle with anxiety. I want to share what I have learned to see if I can help others who may be going through something similar. I created my blog around anxiety because this is my day-to-day struggle that I live with and I want to bring attention and awareness to anxiety and depression because it impacts so many people in so many different ways. I will share tips and tricks as well as my experience with everyday life and how it is impacted by anxiety and depression.