Its not very often I re-post a blog – I like to keep things fresh. But sometimes, it’s the right thing to do.

I am reposting a blog from summer 2020 – its on the topic of the anxiety hangover. Many of you will not have read it as it is from a long time ago.

I want to raise awareness.  This also respresents a good example of its ok, not to be ok

This is exactly how I feel right now.

I am resposting the article in its entirety.

The Anxiety Hangover

At the moment my key messages are its ok not to be ok and better days will come.  I am also trying to be more open and bring my whole self into the work place to raise awareness.

With awareness in mind I am going to talk a little about myself (why not!).  Today’s topic is anxiety.

A couple of weeks  ago I had a very nasty anxiety attack, its hard to describe what it feels like in the moment, it can be a blur.  But what no one seems to mention is afterwards, the short term recovery from the event.  Think of having a hangover, but instead it is from the anxiety attack.

This anxiety hangover led to a completely sleepless night and a full 48 hours of exhaustion.  Only a couple of close friends of mine have ever openly talked to me about this before.  The event itself is scary, but the hangover from this is not much better.  It took me a couple of days to recover and during this time I declined to turn on my video in any meetings.  I was fighting to keep on going. 

I am lucky my team are amazing, no questions asked they supported me.  But yesterday I encountered a member of staff (not from my division) stating it is mandatory for wellbeing to turn on your video in a meeting.  This made me feel uncomfortable and think of others who may be effected.  Sadly this is becoming an issue I am hearing about regularly from across DFE.

I mention this for two reasons: no it is not mandatory and you do not know the level of damage you could cause to an individual to force this up on them.

I’m sharing my experience in a blog just to raise awareness more than anything. So when I am saying in training or in blogs, it is ok not to be ok, I fully know the meaning of that.

I still remain optimistic and know better days are coming.  Life is supposed to be messy, and much of life is out of our control at the moment.

Support others and look after yourselves.