My name is Liana M. Scott, and I've recently joined HealthyPlace as an "Anxiety-Schmanxiety Blog" writer. This isn't my first gig at HealthyPlace. I was part of their "Coping with Depression" blog team back in 2013/14. Since then, my mental health challenges have changed insomuch as anxiety is now very much the focal point of my mental illness.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being here, writing the "Anxiety-Schmanxiety Blog" every week for the past eight years. I actually didn't plan to stop blogging for HealthyPlace, but I must do so for health reasons. I've discovered that living with autoimmune and digestive disorders means that I can't just continue to let my mind be fully in charge of what I do, doing what I want, and ignoring my body. Listening to ourselves, tuning into what our entire body-mind communicates is key to both mental and physical heath--including when it comes to managing anxiety. So honoring that, listening to what my body has been trying to tell me, means that I must step back from this blog.

Dealing with boundary issues can cause anxiety, but it's possible to reduce that anxiety and establish healthy boundaries. Boundaries refer to your sense of yourself as well as when, where, how much, and from whom you'll give and take. The ability to establish boundaries helps your mental health as well as your relationships with others; however, anxiety can cause the inability to create boundaries just as the lack of boundaries can cause anxiety. Despite the double-edged sword, there are ways you can reduce anxiety around boundary issues to improve your quality of life. 

I’m TJ DeSalvo, and I couldn’t be happier to be the newest writer of Anxiety-Schmanxiety Blog. To begin, a little about myself: I’ve been diagnosed with both generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder. I’m also on the autism spectrum, which, if you know anything about, causes you to become overwhelmed very easily, and this obviously doesn’t do any favors to someone with anxiety.

Saying goodbye has never been easy for me. Usually, I would obsess over my decision to stop blogging on this website. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to devote to writing that I would like because of my full-time job and family responsibilities.

Hi, my name is Julia Banim and I’m the new co-author of Anxiety-Schmanxiety. I’m a journalist based in Manchester, England. Reading and writing have long been a quiet refuge for me from the social situations that, admittedly, have never come too easily (What Is Social Anxiety Disorder [Social Phobia]?). Journalism, therefore, always felt like a natural career path for me. I believe that writers should always strive to cover issues that are of personal significance to them. For me, this is anxiety, with all its messiness, humiliations and excessive worrying. I know how it feels to be wound tight as a spring for days, weeks, or months on end. I know how it feels to not realise how loud and fast you are breathing, how tightly you are clenching your fists, until the person next to you on the train looks at you with concern (Can People Without a Mental Illness Understand Us?).

It has been a year since I came on board as one of the anxiety bloggers for HealthyPlace. In that time, I have met many people and made online friends I will almost certainly like, tag, and comment on forever. I met Tanya Peterson, who has been an incredible blog partner. I worked with the incomparable Natasha Tracy and learned more about the inner workings of blogging than I ever thought possible. These reasons, and so many others, are why it is so difficult to say goodbye.

My name is Gabe Howard. I live in Ohio, am married, a hockey fan (go Blue Jackets), a college football fan (go Buckeyes), a couch potato, the life of the party, a home owner, and a pizza connoisseur. I sleep too little, talk too much, and drive my wife mad. I tell her I do it because I like the company. In my late 20s, I was diagnosed with bipolar, anxiety, and panic disorders. Everything changed pretty much overnight. Severe panic attacks, paranoia, and general anxiety sidelined me for a long while costing me a marriage, a career, friends, social status, money, and time.

Welcome to the Anxiety Schmanxiety Blog! I'm Anthony D'Aconti, the Founder of Breathe Into the Bag, an anxiety magazine created to help people struggling with all types of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and PTSD. I'm proud to join the Anxiety Schmanxiety Blog and hope that by sharing my experiences and expertise, I'll be able to help you with your anxiety challenges.

I Understand Anxiety. I Live With It As an emotional human being (aren’t we all?), I’m excited to be writing the Anxiety Schmanxiety blog. Typical of me, I’m also fretful about it. Will what I write be good enough? Will it be helpful? Will readers want to leave comments and interact? What if everyone judges me harshly? Of course I’m imaging an array of negative consequences including certain demise for me and, quite possibly, for you. But don’t worry! I’ve been dealing with this for a long time so I’m used to it. It’s under control – for the most part (I mean, the anxiety is still there, but I’ve learned ways to keep it from ruling me).