How Did Frederick Douglass Overcome Anxiety

Frederick Douglass had to overcome major obstacles for his education. In my life I have had to overcome anxiety which was hindering my educational experience. I first truly experienced anxiety at the end of sixth grade. Fear would overwhelm me so much that I could not concentrate. Irrational thoughts would just replay over and over again in my head, until it distracted me from my real surroundings. I would even get stomach pains and headaches from the nervousness. Eventually, I was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I remember having a strange feeling of relief and disappointment the night that I found out that I had OCD. I was relieved that I knew what was causing me to have so much anxiety, but I was disappointed that I would no longer fall under the category of, what I believed was, normal. Anxiety had become my priority, not education, friends, or even family. Over the summer, with a lot of help from therapy, my anxiety got better. However, as the new school year started, I soon found out that my fears were triggered by change and large crowds. I started my seventh grade at East Garner Magnet Middle School. The school was not bad, it was just that I could not function at such a large school with my anxiety. So, on the third day of my seventh-grade year, my mom checked me out of school early and told me that she had found
When the teacher asked me to introduce myself, I responded with my pre-thought-out response: “My name is Daniel, and I like art”. My teacher would respond with a question like: “What type of art?” Then I would come up with a generic response like “drawing” or “painting”. This was the start of my recognition of my anxiety when giving presentations. I had always been very anxious about talking in front of a class, but I always thought that it was completely normal. I had a fear that if I could not do a presentation perfectly, then I was not good enough or that I would get a bad