Sh. This is Mental Illness.

Have you ever been going about your day… just minding your own. And your mind becomes your enemy. Attacking your peace. Your silence becomes filled with sudden chaos. Erupting out of no where. It’s starts on the top of your head. Feeling like someone has placed their hand on top of your head and is slowly leaning their weight onto you… THE pressure is building and the headache is arising, spreading profusely throughout your skull then your face… into your ears until your eyes feel like they’re gonna pop out and your teeth are now hurting so badly… just aching so intensely you swear they’re gonna crumble and fall out… then it’s like an elephant has sat on your chest just as your throat has began to close and your heart begins to race like it’s in a race with your thoughts as they both go faster and faster simultaneously with the volume of your thoughts rising so loudly you can’t hear the world around you but in bits and pieces… then your skin begins to crawl like you have ants living just under the surface of your flesh and your vision tunnels and your environment becomes blurry and distorted and you’re now scared and hyperventilating… you can’t breathe! You can’t see! You can’t hear! You need grounding. So you stumble to something that will give you heavy sensory input. Something that will bring you back. Squeezing something frozen, rubbing something rough, anything. Ice. Concrete. Flicking a Rubber Band. Anything to stop the episode and zap you back to the here and now. There. Relief. Deep breath. Smile. You’re ok. You’re alright. It’s over.