an overachiever's guide to overcoming anxiety

I can get competitive about pretty much anything. Except for sports involving a ball, in which case, take the ball...no really you can have the ball...I do not want the ball please get it away from me. (This does not include bowling. I love bowling.) Anyway, there often does not even need to be another person involved for me to get my game face on. Since I've started riding a bike I can't help but race my school's shuttle bus to school. I usually win. Granted, the bus doesn't know it's in a race, but still. Last night was the night before our last day of final exams here in nursing school, and I was befelled by a pretty serious bout of anxiety. I really, really don't like anxiety (depression suits me much better), and by god if I wasn't going to kick that anxiety's ass. Here's a list of my plays, in chronological order, to the best of my ability to recall:

* some yoga poses (I like downward dog, child's pose, and a supported fish, if you were wondering. No? Fine then.)
* one can of delicious Resurrection Ale
* petting of cats
* 3/4 of a cigarette
* making of a to-do list and detailed schedule of tomorrow's tasks
* a lot of mint tea
* impulsive ordering of Tina Fey's book (including downloading of the Kindle app so I could read it RIGHT THEN)
* 1/2 a Klonopin
* hugging of cats
* staying up past my bedtime reading 1/4 of Tina Fey's book

Note that nice balance between healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms! And now here it is, 7 a.m., I'm bright-eyed and rested and enjoying hearty breakfast, ready to get in some last minute cramming for the exams I'm no longer worried about (probably because I never really had a good reason to be worried about them in the first place). Most importantly, I WIN.