“Mom, you need to bring me to the hospital there's something wrong.” Those were my words to my mom almost three years ago. I thought I was dying, so I was brought to the emergency room in New Prague, the smell of sterile hospital lingers with me to this day. It was then that I found out that I suffer from anxiety and would go through two weeks of pain as a result of this diagnosis. What I went through in those two next weeks has made me into a stronger person on the inside, and made me face my inner demons.  It still, to this day, affects me in everything I do, it is still present, I just have to push it out and not let it control my life.

The sun was coming up on a brisk Saturday morning in early November, there was still frost on the grass.
“Hurry up, Kari, get goin’!” my dad hollered from upstairs. I was in the kitchen, scavenging for something to stick to my ribs until we got to Owatonna. My mom and sister were getting their shoes and jackets on to be ready to leave as soon as my father waltzed down the stairs. Oh! I can drink some of my new MiO, now where’s a water bottle? I had found a suitable water bottle, added the MiO, took a sip of the overpoweringly sweet drink, and was on my way out the door. Cabela’s in Owatonna was our destination. We had left our home and were on the way there, meanwhile I was downing the entire mixture of water and concentrated flavor in the backseat. We got into Owatonna and stopped to eat at the Famous Dave’s near Cabela’s, and I had started to get a bad headache. I did not mention it to anyone though. For close to an hour and a half we browsed the store as we normally do. At that point I started to get nauseous and felt off. I mentioned to my mom that I was feeling sick and that we should leave soon. Eventually, we left to return back to New Prague while I waited very anxiously in the back seat, gripping the faux leather interior of my back seat, the texture pushing me further over the edge.
“Mom! Please! I need to be brought to the hospital I feel really weird! Mom! There is something wrong with me! Please!” I begged, she was worried. We left for the emergency room not long after we got home. When we arrived, I gave them all of my information and remember sitting in the lounge waiting for a nurse to come get me and bring me back, I even remember asking multiple times why it was taking so long. At this point it was unbearable, so many emotions were piercing through me. I went through tons and tons of tests.  The persistent, irritating beeping of the hospital monitors feed my anxiety to a breaking point.  After being questioned over and over, it turned out that the MiO drink that I had earlier that day was MiO energy, which has 1,080 milligrams of caffeine per bottle. I did not read the instructions on the bottle. This trip to the emergency room was a long and expensive experience for all, just to find out that I had overdosed on an energy drink. The crazy amount of caffeine in my body had triggered a severe anxiety attack that ended up lasting the next two weeks.
I stepped on stage, two weeks had gone by since the bad news was given, my heart was racing. With my hands trembling, the conductor rose his baton. He took a breath, the band followed to create the first note while it started again. I was having another anxiety attack, the sound of the band bouncing through my skull drove me crazy. I got dizzy and anxious, I felt like I needed to run off stage.
“Dude, I feel like I’m going to faint!” I said to my friend that was sitting next to me, “I think I need to leave before I do!” I added.
“NO! You can’t do that, just breathe. You’ll be okay, all you’re going to have to do is try and calm yourself.” She replied. Those words helped, yet I still felt as if I was trapped, I was the star player, all the attention was on me, time stopped, I froze, and I could not make the goal.... My body was telling me to leave, to get off stage, but I needed to finish this band concert and face my fears. My inner demons had to be pushed aside, and they were. I had finally faced my fears head on after two weeks of the worst pain and suffering I had ever endured.
This event has changed me into the grounded person that I am today; learning how to cope with problems, how to deal with my anxiety, and most importantly, how to handle through any trouble that is thrown at me. To persevere is something that is very important to me because throughout life, I will have my ups and my downs, but I will have to just roll with the punches. Life is what I make it, so I am no longer going to let my anxiety control my life.