Eddie: Hi I'm Eddie Taz: Hi I'm Taz.
Eddie: And today we're going to talk about whether it's normal to feel anxious
Eddie: Everybody feels anxious sometimes. Taz when do you think it might be a problem?
Taz: I think for me personally it comes down to how much
control you have over it so there's I would say regular anxiousness where you
know everyone feels nervous in everyday life when it's exams and things like
that but then there's times in my life where I've had everything was great
everything was there was no trigger or anything that made me feel like
"oh it's because of this" but I had overwhelmingly I guess I would describe as anxiety
where it's a very palpable feeling so it's very like it's an internal it kind
of takes over your mentality it's also you can't concentrate or do anything
Eddie: Do you feel it physically?
Taz: yeah, I feel it physically I would describe it
as two things like a sinking feeling I feel like something bad is gonna happen
another thing is like I'm gonna try - physically inside it's like -
Eddie: It's like you can't cope with a feeling.
Taz: Yeah and it's very you can't concentrate or do anything
it's internally you're just feeling a lot.
Eddit: So it sounds like it's like on a
scale so you've got kind of one end where you know something that you can
manage and then it becomes something that you know it's really unmanageable
some people might say that there's no reason to feel anxious about something
Taz: This is something I had a lot especially around high school time when I didn't
know one anxiety was I would feel it and one of the most common things my friends
would say is I'll just calm down everyone in my life would be like oh
just calm down like it was that easy but obviously at the time I didn't know what
I was feeling was anxiety and my friends were obviously just trying to help and
because of that what I would do is I'd suppress if ever I felt like that I
wouldn't tell them about it it made things worse it was sort of building up
inside as I've got older I started to understand a bit more what anxiety was
that it was a legit thing and I was like maybe this is what I'm feeling and it
made it validated what I was feeling, it wasn't just me overreacting or being
too emotional it was something I was out of my control
and there was you know science behind it and once I figured out that this was a
legit thing that helped me a lot in terms of standing up for myself saying
like I can't just calm down right now this is something happening to me not
because of me it's not something I can completely control so that helped a lot
you know just educating people around me and so they understood and knew how to
best help me instead saying like calm down that's not gonna help try to talk
to them and maybe that would help.
Eddie: Sometimes people don't really understand how it is for someone, I guess.
Taz: So I didn't know what anxiety was I didn't
know how best to deal with it and I found methods that helped me through
time so things like medication talking to people counseling it's sort of, there's no
one answer to it it's very much you just goes through life and say to you friend
okay maybe that advice would work for some
people it wouldn't work for me, see, try various options and just see what helps
Eddie: But it's important to remember that your feelings are valid.
Taz: Yeah, at the end of the day, what you're feeling is real
Eddie: When you were talking about your own experiences and you know how did you
know that it was anxiety.
Taz: Well I didn't for the longest time. I started of
watching a lot of YouTube videos on people were talking about anxiety and
then I looked online and I wasn't sure and in the end I just went to
professional I went to the doctors and they suggested different options that
could be medication that could be therapy that could be CBT talking to a friend.
Eddie: So I guess there's different ways of getting support but if you know if
you think it's a problem then yeah it's important to see your doctor.
Taz: Yeah, don't Google it
cause that's gonna freak you out just go to a doctor, and it's not scary as
you think cuz I was really bad and I took years but going to doctors after I
did I was like why didn't I do this sooner.
Eddie: It can be quite hard for people
to reach out for support what was it that encourage you to do that it?
Taz: It was actually my mum who booked the doctor's appointment and that's how I
ended up going to doctors I put it off for a long time I suppressed it but it
was clearly coming out in my behavior and people around me could tell that
something wasn't right but now in hindsight after receiving the
support I would encourage anyone to just take a step or confide in family members
and all that go with them, so that support with you but if you feel
like you don't have that support in your life then there are other resources
available such as Childline they can advise you on what steps to take and things like that.
Eddie: Everyday anxiety it can be difficult as well what can you do to help?
Taz: There's a lot of options out there it's about trial and error and seeing
what works for you - meditation.
Eddie: Take time out make sure that they're gonna get enough rest
Taz: Y eah it's also good to tell people that just let
yourself allow you start to feel what you're feeling
sometimes it's really helpful to when you're in the moment as I do
just saying this is what I'm feeling right now just ride it out and just know
that this is okay you know.
Eddie: Thanks so much for joining us today Taz.
Taz: Thank you for having me.
Eddie: See you next time
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