Mountain Girl in a Midwest Cornfield

Nat Simpson

Nat Simpson has known about her anxiety disorder ever since she can remember. It is her longest memory and goes everywhere with her, even to Thanksgiving of 2017.

Spending the holiday alone in Sioux City, the Morningside College student Simpson spent her time talking to her friend Jackson from back home. After being friends for two years, Simpson finally realized she had genuine feelings for this guy, the first time she had even developed feelings at all.

She panicked. Simpson did not know how to handle the situation internally or externally, thinking and overthinking. This developed into a panic attack but subsided when she confronted the problem by talking herself through the issue.

Jackson supported her (by saying “you’re a gem”) and waited till she had calmed to talk to her. Simpson’s anxiety disorder had not ruined her relationship, had not won, and she is moving on.

1 Comment

  1. fuglsang

    This sentence kind of threw me for a loop: ” …the first time she had even developed feelings at all.” I’m assuming you mean feelings for another person.

    A good draft, Mari. The next step, I think, would be to expand on how she talked herself “through the issue.” I see that as overcoming the obstacle; how does someone deal with an anxiety attack.

    “Had not won” opens some doors as well.

Leave a Reply