‘Feels like I’m in danger’: Scary reality of living with anxiety
A 28-year-old woman has opened up about the frightening reality of living with a debilitating disorder that affects one in six Australians.
Imagine you are standing at the very edge of a monstrous cliff, looking down at the jagged rocks below and feeling totally powerless to stop yourself from falling.
Your heart is beating out of your chest, your throat is tightening and you are so consumed with fear that everything just goes black.
For Milly Bannister, this is the horrific reality of living with anxiety.
She is not alone. More than one in six Australians suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The condition can feel vastly different for different people and no two experiences with anxiety will look exactly the same.
But for many, it can be absolutely debilitating and gets in the way of how they function in their everyday lives.
Australia is in the grips of a mental health crisis, and people are struggling to know who to turn to, especially our younger generations. Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, equipping Aussies with the skills needed to have the most important conversation of their life.
For Milly, 28, from Sydney, the condition started at a young age, however she said she did not have the proper language or knowledge to understand what she was going through.
“I definitely experienced anxiety growing up,” she told news.com.au.
“As a teenager, I felt constant pressure to achieve and keep up, especially in school and socially.
“I was always juggling extracurriculars, studying and social commitments, but there was this underlying fear of disappointing people and not being good enough.
“It felt like an internal restlessness, like my brain was running a marathon that my body couldn’t keep up with.
“I remember moments where I would over-analyse every interaction, worried that I had said or done the ring thing, like my brain was running a marathon that my body couldn’t keep up with.
“At the time, I thought I was just a worrier or being overdramatic. I didn’t understand that what I was feeling was actually anxiety.”
As she grew older, her experience with anxiety morphed into something much more sinister as she navigated the adult world and dealt with an entirely new host of problems.
Milly founded ALLKND, a Gen Z-led mental health charity that delivers peer-to-peer mental health first aid training to young Australians - a much needed service, as new research has found those born between 1997 and 2012 make up the generation suffering the most with their mental health and wellbeing.
The survey by News Corp’s Growth Distillery with Medibank found young Australians were more likely to rate their mental health “below average” with 69 per cent of respondents agreeing both that young adults today experience more difficulties with mental health compared to earlier generations and that navigating life in 2025 involves a wider and more intense set of challenges than those faced by their predecessors.
In the early days of establishing her charity, Milly recalls experiencing major anxiety due to the overwhelming stress and the feeling of needing to “prove herself” as a young entrepreneur.
“Adulthood brought a new layer to my anxiety, particularly in the world of entrepreneurship, leadership and social media,” she explained.
“Founding a charity at a young age meant taking on an incredible amount of responsibility, often in spaces where I felt like I had to prove myself.
“The pressure of running an organisation, securing funding, supporting a team and putting myself out there publicly on social media was a lot to carry.
“Perfectionism also played a huge role. I felt like if I didn’t get things exactly right, I would let people down - whether it was my team, my community or the young people we were supporting.
“That pressure to always be ‘on’ and to deliver at a high level made it difficult to switch off, and I would often spiral into overwork rather than admitting I needed a break.”
Milly revealed that this build-up of anxiety over time caused her to hit a “low point” where she felt completely overwhelmed and struggled to do even the simplest tasks.
“The lowest point for me was during a period of burnout, where anxiety completely consumed my thoughts,” she recalled.
“It felt like I was constantly in fight or flight mode, and my mind would spiral with worst-case scenarios.
“My sleep suffered, my ability to focus on relationships and personal time took a massive hit, and I struggled to set boundaries between work and rest.
“At times, even something as simple as replying to an email or feeding myself felt completely overwhelming.”
For Milly, anxiety comes in different forms and can show up in her life at different times.
It can also physically manifest in her body in different ways.
“I’ve had long periods of generalised anxiety, where there’s a constant hum of unease in the background, making everyday tasks feel heavier than they should,” she said.
“But I’ve also experienced acute anxiety spikes, where something triggers a wave of panic, like a time-sensitive project, unexpected bad news or even social overwhelm.
“When it hits, it feels like my chest tightens, my heart races and my brain speeds up to a point where it’s impossible to think clearly.
“I feel like bursting into tears. Sometimes I get dizzy, and my stomach churns like I’m about to step on stage, even when there’s no real reason for it.
“It’s like my body is reacting as if I’m in danger, even though logically, I know I’m not.”
It is also just as taxing mentally, often leaving her feeling disorientated and panicked.
“It is honestly exhausting,” she said.
“Your thoughts loop in circles, you second-guess every decision, and you feel like you need to do something but can’t figure out what.
“It’s not just nervousness. It is a physiological response that can be debilitating.”
Milly urges anyone suffering from anxiety symptoms to seek help as it can be “life changing”.
She has been on SSRI medications for years and has worked with psychologists and health professionals over the years to help manage her condition.
“The biggest game-changer for me has been learning practical mental health first aid strategies,” she said.
“Which is exactly why I started ALLKND, to give young Aussies access to evidence-based tools to support themselves and their friends.
“I also prioritise as much movement as possible, mindfulness and strong daily routines with alone time and rest.
“I’ve learned to manage my anxiety, but it’s definitely not something that just goes away.
“It still comes in waves, especially during high-pressure periods, but now I recognise the signs early and have the tools to stop it from spiralling.
“Or if I do spiral, I can get back up much faster.”
She believes there needs to be more understanding and awareness around what anxiety truly is.
“It isn’t just being stressed or worrying too much, it is a real, physiological response that can be completely debilitating,” she said.
“Telling someone to ‘just relax’ or ‘stop overthinking’ isn’t helpful.
“What is helpful is validating their experience, supporting them in finding strategies that work and ensuring they have access to the right resources.
“Anxiety is also incredibly common, but we don’t talk about it enough in a practical, solution-focused way.”
Milly also hopes that Australia will adopt a better solution to help deal with these types of mental health issues, including raising the amount of Medicare-funded sessions.
“There needs to be more affordable and accessible mental health support,” she urged.
“While there are incredible psychologists and mental health professionals in Australia, long wait times and financial barriers stop too many people from getting the help they need.
“We need to increase the 10 Medicare funded sessions to 20, at the bare minimum.
“I’d love to see peer-led, community-based mental health education integrated into schools, universities and workplaces.
“Early intervention and normalising conversations around mental health can make a massive difference in prevention.
“Any for anyone struggling with anxiety, you are not alone and you are not broken.
“There are tools and support systems out there that can help, and you deserve to access them.”
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