Overcoming adversity and stress through writing

I could barely breathe. The walls closed in on me. I thought that I would stop breathing.

Of course I didn’t. It was all in my head.

Ever since I had this anxiety attack, I wanted to find answers… I examined my daily habits. What made me feel this way and how could I overcome it?

I want to express where I am in my life right now. My company is currently in a downward spiral. For the past couple of months, I’ve felt stress as I’ve never felt before. I feel overwhelmed by what’s happening, by new opportunities, by possible financial insecurity and by the general uncertainty of it all.

My weeks are really like a rollercoaster ride, with one day being high on life and opportunity, and the other down and having self doubt about my competencies.

Above all, if I am really honest with myself I can’t stand the fact that I can’t control the situation, since I am largely dependent on other people’s decisions. This gives me the most stress. Normally, I am someone who has a nice sense of balance in his life. Until now.

I used to suffer from hyperventilation attacks almost daily. Whenever I talked to people I had the feeling I was about to faint.

Of course feelings like this can manifest itself in many different forms. I am triggered by my current situation. Others maybe deal with these issues because of other imbalances related to stress, whether it’s personal or professional.

Luckily, there is one thing I enjoy so much, it has made my days brighter. Something I am pursuing every moment I get off and something that I had always dreamed about.

Last year I finally decided to take action upon something I have always wanted, to write fiction. After a couple of months of stacking up on short stories, I launched my website www.turnerstories.com last September. On the site I publish one short story every month, accompanied by an illustration. The stories can be described as a cross between (the TV-show) Black Mirror and fairy tales. Inspired by magic, science fiction, futurism and humanity, I reflect on our shared human experience.

The stories range in topics. There’s a poor man who finds a money tree growing in his garden. How does…