I thought I’d share this because I am just trying to figure out where to go from here. I’m 23 and just graduated from college. I’ve suffered from social anxiety throughout my life, but what have been experiencing now is something far worse and more detrimental to my life. The current state of the United States has pushed my anxiety into unbearable levels, bordering on dispair. Frankly, it’s made me terrified and depressed. My anxiety really got bad about two weeks ago, when I had a panic attack on the Fourth of July, and it’s been particularly bad ever since. It’s killed my appetite and I am losing all motivation at work, as well as finding a future.

While the 2016 election was really rough for me, something about me changed after Covid hit, plus on top of all of the other events that occurred in 2020, I had a persistent anxiety about the future of the country. This year has been particularly terrifying, with worrying developments abroad, concerning decisions at the Supreme Court, and what’s looking to be a really ugly midterms. I constantly have worries of civil unrest and chaos in the future. 

Frankly, I’m just done and tired of it all. It seems like it’s one thing after another. I’ve cut down on my news consumption a lot but it still persists. I don’t know where to go from here. This is by far the worst anxiety I have ever felt in my life, and it’s leading me to a point of despair. I have been going to therapy to help, as well as being given anti-anxiety medication. Part of me just feels like giving up on this country and moving abroad, and it’s something that I have actually been seriously considering. I just want to live my life in peace, and right now that’s not happening. I don’t know where to go from here, but I don’t know how I can continue to live like this, perhaps I should just leave the country.