My anxiety manifested over time. It was like being in a really messy room and not knowing where to begin to make it tidy. That’s how I felt inside; my head was the messy room.

I couldn’t concentrate on anything and it took me ages to get menial, mundane, little things done – like invoices and sending emails. That’s where it started.

At the time it started to really surface, my dad was really ill. I was working both as an exam invigilator for children with special educational needs and part-time as an actor after doing a degree in theatre a few years before.

So I had an unwell parent, I was going to auditions, I was sorting out school schedules, I still had a house to run and the gravity of the situation just started to shut me down.

I wasn’t turning up to things on time, not sending auditions off – even the build-up of my washing pile at home was ridiculous. The only thing I stayed true to were the schoolkids.

This is what happened when I told my friend I had anxiety