Anxiety. Your worst enemy. The reason for too many sleepless nights. That one thing you can’t let go of. The feeling of complete hopelessness or not being good enough. Anxiety. It’s latching onto you and won’t budge.

Anxiety is defined as a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. However, this definition does not matter. In fact it means nothing; anxiety is so much more than a 22-word phrase one person had to come up with however long ago it was. The definition means nothing when placed beside the actual feelings that overtake so many young people with anxiety. What truly matters is the story, how anxiety makes a person feel, how it impacts their lives, and how it affects everyday activities that were once so simple.

Often times anxiety goes hand in hand with panic/anxiety attacks. To try and grasp the true feeling of an anxiety attack, helpguide.org explains, “Anxiety attacks usually peak within 10 minutes, and they rarely last more than 30 minutes. But during that short time, the terror can be so severe that you feel as if you’re about to die or totally lose control. The physical symptoms of anxiety attacks are themselves so frightening that many people believe they’re having a heart attack.”

This is a touchy subject, and not one to be taken lightly. But it’s there. And to be honest, it’s not going away, especially due to the dramatic increase of cases over the last decade. Ann Berger, English and psychology teacher, explains how anxiety functions. “Our brains actually require a threshold of stress to thrive. When we exceed this threshold, anxiety and depression begin to take place,” states Berger. According to a Twitter poll asking how many PV students have suffered/suffer from anxiety, 74% answered “yes.” It is clear just from these results that the topic must be addressed, but rather positively than negatively.

We tend to stay in our own bubble when things such as anxiety start to affect us. That’s just the issue, though. Because society gives us the mindset that we must be perfect, we trap ourselves inside our own normal, humanly thoughts. This, in turn, lowers self esteem and makes us feel worse about conditions we may be experiencing.

Unfortunately, living in a world with social media and ignorant people has caused excessive anxiety for many. Cyber-bullying can lead to many scenarios which may trigger anxiety and other mental disorders for those who are being targeted. It’s important not to use words like “depressed,” “panic attack,” or “fat,” frequently and insensitively. It’s guaranteed at some point someone nearby you took those words to heart, whether they outrightly spoke it or kept quiet. Many times they keep quiet because they are afraid to admit words like that DO hurt them. It’s okay to be hurt, though. Your story matters, and what you’re going through matters much more than the inconsiderate words spoken by your peers.

What’s the point in fretting over a “flaw” you have that just so happens to be defined as a mental disorder. You are human, you aren’t perfect, and you’re not supposed to be. Even though so many people make their lives appear that way, that’s completely wrong. Being friends with a “perfect” person would be boring anyway. Whether you suffer from anxiety or another mental disorder, they are all real; and what comes along are some extremely tough battles. But there’s no reason to deny that. You are never defined by the challenges you face. However, they are a part of you, and you should feel no shame or embarrassment because of them.

“Embracing the fact that you have anxiety can be freeing because it separates the anxiety from the situation, and it allows you to see the situation as something removed from the panic,” Michael Hedrick reassures us from psychcentral.com. We can’t pretend anxiety and all other mental disorders don’t affect us, because they do. And that is more than okay.