I am a 33 year old Maltese male and I am a mechanical engineer with the government. I started suffering from anxiety from a young age (around 11 years old) and it exploded with the death of my cousin and manifested into depression with bullying and abuse I have experienced after this tragedy. I lost all self confidence and willingness to live. I felt lost in my life and not knowing what to do. I never told anyone what I was experiencing to no one and kept bottling everything within myself. I talked with my parents about what I have endured after 13 years.
With the stress of University I started to experience chest pains and was struggling a lot to cope with the university studies. However I wanted to graduate and put my mind to it. After 4 years I managed to graduate. However after graduating I felt hopeless as I could not find a job in engineering for four years. During this period at first I was not motivated and felt completely lost about my future. Of course this did not help my self esteem and my anxiety levels. I wanted a change in my life so I started to focus on intensive weight training (which I still do and cannot live without it) and started to learn new skills as much as possible and kept myself busy attending courses and study.
After years of desperation finally I got the call that I was accepted for an engineering job, the work place I am working for today. From that time, I got engaged to my wife which helps me a lot and encourages me and we got married six months ago. Also, 2 years ago I finished my Masters in Engineering Degree. I still suffer from anxiety and panic attacks but I keep myself busy with training, learning new skills, medication, relaxing time with my wife and trying to help others.
From what I have learned in my life is to talk about your difficulties and never be ashamed to admit you have a problem and you suffer from any illness, especially mental issues because they are invisible, however in my opinion the repercussions can be more severe.
