It's "just" Anxiety
how many times have you been told this?
Deep breaths, its okay
Well no its not
Why, you say?
I’m sick in my mind
Is what I relay
Hyperventilation, claustrophobia
Panic sets in for the hundredth time
And I lose sight of my utopia
Hopelessly falling into a pit
Landing in dystopia
Clammy hands, covered faces
Its shameful, is what I was taught
And of that teaching, remain quite a few traces
I wish I could unlearn it
All it would take is a few gentle caresses
Then it subsides, and the fear sets in
I was an open book, ready to have her pages ripped
And there my mind is on it, placing on the story a spin
And a new panic sets in
A quieter one, that burrows like needles under my skin
It's like you came at night and saw me hyperventillating and thinking of things I shouldn't or that's what they say anyways and wrote what I could never say out aloud.
Damn, this hit way too close. The way you went from ‘deep breaths’ to full internal chaos is so real it almost feels like you’re narrating someone’s actual panic spiral. The utopia → dystopia switch? Crazy accurate. And the part about being taught to feel shame—ugh, that line stings because it’s true for so many of us. The ending with the ‘quieter panic’ is honestly the scariest part, and you captured it perfectly. This feels raw, vulnerable, and super relatable. You did amazing.”