Rotarian describes journey of anxiety diagnosis.
Marc Bowker’s journey of discovering a mental health diagnosis of anxiety and learning how to live with it began with a 20th wedding anniversary trip to Cancun.
Not the likeliest of places for a panic attack, but anyone who’s experienced such a thing knows they show up on their own schedule. Bowker, a member of Lima Rotary Club and owner of Alter Ego Comics, shared his story with the club Monday.
A series of family member deaths, business challenges and physical health problems led him to experience anxiety. It also led him to a psychiatrist who helped him realize he had lived with anxiety all of his life, even when he didn’t know what to call it, and even when he believed thoughts and feelings were things that everyone had. A person with anxiety fixates on the worst possible outcome and runs that outcome over and over in his head, without the ability to think about something else.
The good news for Bowker, and millions of others in the United States is that anxiety is highly treatable. The bad news is that many people with anxiety don’t receive treatment. Bowker takes medication and has developed routines and exercises that help him live with and reduce anxiety. He explained “SAVERS” – Silence, Affirmation, Visioning, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing. Bowker wakes up early every day and an hour of mindful meditation, exercise, reading and writing helps calm his anxiety.
In other Rotary business:
Beth Seibert turned in her red badge for a blue badge.
The UNOH Rotaract Club visited Monday, presenting a check for $1,700 to help respond to opioid addiction. The group raised the money with a Color Run this summer.