Born and raised in Winnipeg, Man. Sherrie Ancheta, is a 36-year-old hairstylist here in Toronto. Ancheta was raised by a single mother from the Philippines. 

 

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Ancheta said that adopting her mother’s coping style has most likely lead to the anxiety she feels today, but that she always hid those feelings in fear of hurting her mother.

 

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In order to protect her mother, Ancheta to this day has never come forward about her struggles, she has not come to terms with the fact that she probably needs to seek help, to find a therapist. 

 

Ancheta said that her pride plays a big role in stopping her from actually making that phone call to a therapist or finding someone that is right for her. “There’s also the thought of, shit, am I also failing my mom as her daughter because I know she raised me well,” she said.

 

Ancheta said that the pandemic has caused her to become more aware of anxiety, as she hid it for most of her life she was forced to “be alone with my thoughts.” She is only now coming to terms with living with it but she hates it.

 

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Ancheta ended by saying that her anxiety comes from knowing what she wants from the future and wanting it now. The idea of the future is a person with anxiety’s worst nightmare. People with anxiety are constantly living in the future and that is where she struggles the most.