Grit Diaries
Karen Sander · 37 min
Karen Sander has lived with crippling generalised anxiety disorder since childhood — and has spent six decades refusing to let it stop her from building a remarkable, joy-filled life.
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Karen Sander has lived with generalised anxiety disorder since childhood. For six decades, she has refused to let it stop her from building a life filled with joy, connection, and purpose. Growing up in Little Bay in the 1950s and 60s, Karen was an anxious child despite an outwardly idyllic childhood of horses, swimming, and outdoor freedom. Her parents pushed hard for academic success, and that pressure fed a deep fear of failure that would grip her for decades. By her teens, the anxiety tightened its hold. In her twenties, Karen trained as a teacher and worked for the Education Department, but the constant physical toll, racing heart, sweating, insomnia, inability to eat, became unbearable. At 37, she left teaching and spent ten years working in the film industry, traveling the world as a tutor on set. This gave her breathing room, and it was during this time she first found anti-anxiety medication that didn't carry the addiction risks she had feared. But the real turning point came later. In her 50s, after a two-week stay at Northside Clinic, Karen found medication that worked. More importantly, she discovered that building small successes over time created what she calls a bank account of capability, evidence that despite the anxiety's constant presence, she was capable of far more than her fear suggested. Ocean swimming became her moving meditation. Listening, truly listening to others, became the skill that changed her later life most profoundly. Today, Karen runs the Story Room, a monthly gathering where ordinary people share unpolished, honest stories. In doing so, she offers others what she wished she'd had: the knowledge that they are not alone, and that a full life is possible even when anxiety is part of it.
Every story here belongs to the person who lived it. They said yes to sharing it, and we sat with it carefully before it went up. Nothing here is exaggerated and nothing is used without permission. Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗