"Anxiety is the interest paid on trouble before it is due." ~ William Inge In order to cope with ongoing anxiety and panic attacks, anybody trapped in the anxiety cycle will naturally keep using what seems to work. If you're using coping mechanisms that are detrimental to your long-term mental and physical health, here's an idea. After the panic has faded, assess how much of the time anxiety is in charge, and what it's costing you.

Did you know you that being kind to yourself reduces stress? Do you realize when you're not being kind to yourself? Do you know what self-care means? A lot of people experience anxiety as stress and pressure: to be perfect, appropriate, correct, on time, grown-up, professional, controlled. It's easy for stress and anxiety to weave their way into your life. But you can be kind to yourself more often and reduce stress and anxiety in the process.

It's hard to listen to any feedback from anxiety when I think my blood is full of laughing gas and I'm hysterically gasping for air. It's one of 'those' days. All systems go, I'm at the bottom of a wishing well, throwing coins towards the light. Sometimes it's impossible to prevent these days when living with anxiety, but sometimes, by listening to the feedback anxiety can give you, you can avoid them.

The thing about living with anxiety is you're never alone. It's there, like a shadow, filling up the extra spaces in your day. When your head hits the pillows, it pops up. You're quiet: It's loud, and louder. And oh, hang on, it's 2am. 3am. 4am. "Why can't I settle down? What's wrong with me? What if, and how will I ever...?"

I call it DSM Scrabble because lots of people don't fit neatly into the categories doctors put them in. Diagnoses are convenient boxes but rarely entirely accurate, and certainly not the full picture. It felt like I'd won the lottery the first time someone put an actual name to my experience of anxiety. My shrink knew all these catchy phrases that described where I was: Maybe she had connections? Maybe she could give me courage, a heart, a brain?

Sometimes I'd wake up in the morning, wondering how the bed could hold the weight of it all. Before opening my eyes, the fear that I might experience anxiety today overwhelmed me. I felt stuck and stupid for not knowing how not to be afraid. I struggled with seemingly simple things like going to the store because those things seemed like asking for trouble. I'd fret and fidget, and do just about anything to avoid thinking about next time. That's anticipatory anxiety, and it's common to most every single person with an anxiety disorder.

I'm a 28 year old writer-photographer, poet and politico. Born in Australia, I've lived in Manhattan, London and Philadelphia, and have been blogging, tweeting and advocating about mental health issues for more than three years. I'm your sister, your cousin, your friend; an old woman, or that kid playing in the yard across the street. Hi. My name is Kate White, and I'm 1 in 4. Haven't heard that statistic before? Then you should know that 25% of the world's population will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives.