Hi all,
My name is Eddie Burkhalter and I was diagnosed at a local mental health clinic in 2009 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and major depression. That was in college, which I started a bit late in life. Now I'm working, unbelievably, as a journalist at a daily newspaper in Anniston, Alabama.
The thing is, I'm not doing very well. I began at a local weekly and worked my way up to the daily. I left college before my last semester after having gotten the job at the paper. Now I'm concidering going back to school to get my BSW. Making tough phone calls while being surrounded by young - I'm 38 - tallented reporters is just too much.
I've been avoiding hard phone interviews, drudging through meetings I have to cover, going home in pain from hours of tension. And I drink too much in the evenings, or did before I stopped last week.
I'm looking for a job that I can take to get me through until I graduate, then I really dont know what I'll do. I can make double the pay as a social worker for the state, but I don't kid myself in thinking that willbe easier than being a journalist.
I've decided that before I leave I want to write a longform piece on anxiety disorders, telling the stories of others as well as my own. I got a go-ahead from my features editor, who also suffered from undiagnosed anxiety problems and has learned to deal with it, a little, through the years. We talk occasionally about it.
I had one longform story on Southern Flight 242, the plane that crashed at my childhood home, hit Slate.com last year. I have no idea what may become of this story, but I suspect it could touch a lot of people, and hopefully help them, in some way.
So I'm looking to connect with others who can help me spread awarness about anxiety by telling me their own stories. This can be done using first names only, if one prefers.
I' m going to be putting myself out there in a big way - both in front of my readers and my coworkers - but I don't expect anyone else to do so unless they want to.
If anyone would like to help me, I'd love to talk, either by phone or by email or both. We have an opportunity to do some good for people, who like me, suffered for decades before even knowing what I was suffering from. I'm planning to begin getting professional help myself soon, but have no idea how I'll pay for it. But that's another worry for another day.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to hear from some of you soon.
Eddie Burkhalter
The Anniston Star
[email protected]
Office: 256-235-3563
Cell: 256-689-8783
My name is Eddie Burkhalter and I was diagnosed at a local mental health clinic in 2009 with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and major depression. That was in college, which I started a bit late in life. Now I'm working, unbelievably, as a journalist at a daily newspaper in Anniston, Alabama.
The thing is, I'm not doing very well. I began at a local weekly and worked my way up to the daily. I left college before my last semester after having gotten the job at the paper. Now I'm concidering going back to school to get my BSW. Making tough phone calls while being surrounded by young - I'm 38 - tallented reporters is just too much.
I've been avoiding hard phone interviews, drudging through meetings I have to cover, going home in pain from hours of tension. And I drink too much in the evenings, or did before I stopped last week.
I'm looking for a job that I can take to get me through until I graduate, then I really dont know what I'll do. I can make double the pay as a social worker for the state, but I don't kid myself in thinking that willbe easier than being a journalist.
I've decided that before I leave I want to write a longform piece on anxiety disorders, telling the stories of others as well as my own. I got a go-ahead from my features editor, who also suffered from undiagnosed anxiety problems and has learned to deal with it, a little, through the years. We talk occasionally about it.
I had one longform story on Southern Flight 242, the plane that crashed at my childhood home, hit Slate.com last year. I have no idea what may become of this story, but I suspect it could touch a lot of people, and hopefully help them, in some way.
So I'm looking to connect with others who can help me spread awarness about anxiety by telling me their own stories. This can be done using first names only, if one prefers.
I' m going to be putting myself out there in a big way - both in front of my readers and my coworkers - but I don't expect anyone else to do so unless they want to.
If anyone would like to help me, I'd love to talk, either by phone or by email or both. We have an opportunity to do some good for people, who like me, suffered for decades before even knowing what I was suffering from. I'm planning to begin getting professional help myself soon, but have no idea how I'll pay for it. But that's another worry for another day.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to hear from some of you soon.
Eddie Burkhalter
The Anniston Star
[email protected]
Office: 256-235-3563
Cell: 256-689-8783