So I guess I should introduce myself and my mental health story before I delve into the embarrassing tales of my dating life. My name’s Hannah, Hi, nice to meet you.
I’ve suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember really, but didn’t have it confirmed until I was 18 when the thought of leaving the house had me curled up into the Fetal position sobbing, believing that I was going to die.
I had always been the big girl, everyone’s friend but no-ones girlfriend, something that never really bothered me but seemed to bother other people. So add a journey of weight-loss to a an already anxious person and bam! You’ve also got a sufferer of body dysmorphic disorder.
At 19, I found myself dropping out of university after two weeks (I tell people I just went for Fresher’s, it seems to be far more understandable) and heading home. I could barely leave the house to travel ten minutes down the round without having extreme panic attacks, so I started to build a life within all the barriers my mental health was giving me. I found a few amazing friends who helped carry me, and an extremely understanding boyfriend who miraculously knew exactly what to do when I had a panic attack.
Fast forward a few years and I started to push myself past my barriers, I forced myself to do the things that I was convinced would kill me. I stood in the middle of a busy shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon, I travelled abroad, I did a 10k run. Things that other people take for granted but that for me filled me with the realisation that I could overcome some of my problems and smash the walls around me.
But that stories not what I’m here to write about, Im here to share my experiences of the wondrous world of dating with Anxiety and depression. Ten years later, I’m sitting here basically over the general aspects of my anxiety disorder, an avid traveller, a fitness fanatic and a completely different person. However, dating, oh what an evil that is in my life. Luckily I’m able to laugh at my dating dilemmas so thought I would share it would the #MentalMovement family.
After two long term relationships I was abruptly dropped into the single world three years ago. I won’t go into the decline of my old relationship, there were faults on both sides and it got pretty messy, but I will some up it with this one fact. It ended finally on my birthday. When I was dumped. On my birthday. By text. Did I mention it was my birthday?
