The Kindness of Strangers - a Story from a man who suffers with anxiety

The Kindness of Strangers 

I am a young man who suffers with Anxiety and PTSD as well as chronic pain. I am tall and I have not been self assured for some of my life and so used to stoop. I now carry myself tall but can still freeze up when in a crowd or doing something I haven’t done for a while. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, and without my usual supports and ways of coping, I had been taking daily exercise and sometimes shopping at my local small shops or in places where there weren’t queues. On this occasion I decided to do my shopping in Waitrose. However when I got there I saw a lot of people and staff managing a long queue. On seeing this a panic attack started so walked away and I sat on a nearby wall. I could neither go on nor go back, the panic overwhelming me so that I froze. I sat there for an hour calming myself gradually, doing my breathing exercises and eventually managed to phone a friend. I explained that I really needed shopping but could not face the crowd and could not stand in a queue for any length of time as I walked with a stick. My friend asked if I had thought about going to talk to the staffs outside Waitrose who were at the door. They would surely understand and let me shop and help me; I did not think I could do that. Normally in a bad panic my friend would offer to come and collect me but this could not happen because of the lockdown. However after sitting there for a long time and calming myself gradually, I did go over to talk to the security guard outside the door at Waitrose. He must have seen that I was stressed and asked me how I was, if I was ok. I explained that I couldn’t queue due to a physical disability and had been sitting for an hour just to overcome a panic attack before coming over to talk to him. He was concerned that I was ok and then let me straight through. I did my shopping quickly so forget a few things in the aftermath of the panic. But it did not matter because I had got help and had got at least some of what I needed. On coming out of the store I again sat on the wall further down from Waitrose, resting and waiting for my anxiety to again recede before going home. Whilst I sat there I saw the staff at the door talking and then one of them came over to check I was alright. He asked if I needed some water or a brolly, as it had started raining, and asked if there was anything else he could help me with. The kindness of strangers is a heart warming experience. I told my friend and she helped me to put this down on paper and share this experience. Amongst the many difficult things that we are going through in our families and in our communities the kindness of strangers is one of the things that helps pull us through. Don’t be frightened of asking for help. Big Warm Thanks to Stroud Waitrose Staff