Aubrie Sellers Opens Up About Coping With — and Beating — Anxiety in New Online Essay

Aubrie Sellers has a message of hope for anyone battling anxiety and panic disorder, and she's sharing her story in a new, first-person essay in HuffPost. In the piece, Sellers details how anxiety has impacted her life, beginning when she was a child.

The singer remembers early encounters with anxiety, such as visits to Cracker Barrel with her dad when she worried that it would make her sick if her macaroni and cheese touched her green beans. At the time, Sellers writes, she didn't have a name for the feelings that often overwhelmed her, causing her to have physical symptoms and even -- on some occasions -- almost passing out.

"My guard was getting stuck, always on. Already prone to anxiety over small, everyday things, I faced insane existential questions before I had even hit puberty," she explains in the article. "How could I ever trust anyone's intentions? How will I know if someone genuinely cares about me? Is it even possible?"

Her struggle only got worse when she became an adult, and started pursuing a life in music. The daughter of Lee Ann Womack, she grew up surrounded by country music and knew early on she wanted to pursue her own musical career. However, she was stymied by stage fright and panic. Even though she was grateful for the opportunities she received to perform her music, Sellers struggled to enjoy those opportunities because of her anxiety.

"Early in my life onstage, I sang through gritted teeth as I counted the songs down one by one -- one more down, now only seven to go. 'If you can make it through to the end, you don't have to worry about it until tomorrow night,' I'd tell myself," she continues.

Sellers admits it took years of therapy and re-training her brain in order to began to feel like she was in control of her anxiety. Now that she has, she's encouraging readers facing similar struggles to continue fighting towards overcoming those obstacles. Additionally, she points out the importance of removing the stigma surrounding mental health.

"Know this, a year can feel like a decade, a decade like a lifetime when you’re grappling with anxiety. The work takes time. You need to find out what works for you. We’re all different, but we can all get better," she says. "No one should be scared to ask for help. We need to remove the shame."