A better way to feel better.
I was in a good place: I was four years in at a growing tech company, riding my bike to work every day, supporting my husband and our household, and after nearly a decade, my Panic Disorder was under control. So I did what any practical person would do: I quit my job.
Setting off into the great unknown of freelance has its perks, but there is one major con: the overwhelming feeling of dread that you’ll never make money again. I was waking up with a pit in my stomach wondering how I would make ends meet, and that pit kept creeping up at inconvenient times, like when pitching a new concept to a potential client, when trying to create a budget, and even in my happy place: on my road bike.
Yelling at myself to just “chill out” wasn’t proving to be very effective, and while a mix of therapy, medication, meditation, and exercise helped me manage the panic attacks, nothing had ever really kicked the underlying sense of unease. Now that the unease was less underlying and more hello, how may I sabotage you today, I knew it was time to try something I kept hearing success stories about full-spectrum hemp extract.
I decided to try hemp extract at the recommendation of a friend. I started out by putting between 40-60 MG in my decaf coffee every morning. On Day 1, when I sat down for my first task of sorting through my inbox, I noticed I didn’t feel the usual apprehension. Instead, I felt, well, nothing. I just felt ready to respond to some emails, regardless of what they were. It seemed too good to be true, but over the next few days, life started to feel like I was painting in pastels, like walking through a 1980s music video. All the edges were softened. I was less reactive, less worried, more confident, and more at ease.
I even felt it on the bike. I was worried that hemp extract might dull my senses on the road, but I felt clear, more relaxed when descending, more able to focus, and less distracted by fear. That feeling of “what if I crash?” dissipated leaving me more room to make smart and fast decisions.
One week in and I was adding a full dropper of hemp extract to my decaf every morning. I felt more confident pitching, more patient in difficult conversations, and I was able to look at my bank account without spiraling. Best of all, though? I wasn’t worried about worrying because I wasn’t worrying, to begin with. I was dealing with things as they came, present in the moment, and enjoying the slightest aroma of pinecone coming from my coffee.
