Living on the western slopes of Mt. Rainier in Puyallup, Washington has meant many long, dark, and rainy winters for Jessica Shook. Those months of low clouds and rare sunshine used to be especially challenging for her.
Over a decade ago, Shook found herself at her doctor’s office, hoping to get answers for the heart-pounding anxiety and frequent tears she couldn’t explain.
She was prescribed standard pharmaceutical anxiety treatment, but after trying a couple of different brands she didn’t feel all that much better.
“Pharmaceuticals I think give me more anxiety… their side effects were awful, I just didn’t want to feel like that anymore… That’s when I started taking CBD.”
Eventually, she began to carve out a routine that worked better for her to battle the long winters and general anxiety she’d been feeling.
“You really have to be very aware of yourself and aware of how you’re feeling and you just really have to focus on you and your boundaries,” Shook said. “I think that’s the biggest part. You find what works for you and then you make sure you don’t steer away from that. Because when you steer away from that, that’s when stuff starts tumbling down.”
Shook has settled into her regimen year-round and it’s been working. She loves her job at the State of Washington Department of Ecology and Water Equality where the majority of her job is to make permits and related documents more accessible for people with disabilities — a service she relishes helping to provide.
“I have a really cool job, she gushed. “It probably doesn’t sound very cool, but to me - it’s epically cool.”
She’s also found joy in her daily regimen in Puyallup. She loves hiking with her husband, going to nearby breweries, hanging out with friends, and watching her shows in the evening alongside her cat King.
She takes CBD + CBG Tincture every morning as part of her routine, a difference she feels immediately. If she’s going to be in a particularly stressful situation, she’ll take the tincture with her just to help ward off any added anxiety.
“The second that I forget to take it in the morning I know because my heart starts going and I can just feel it, I can feel myself feeling icky”, Jessica says. “I have a lot of trouble sometimes going out if there’s a lot of people like crowds and stuff like that. But if I take my CBD with me usually I’m fine.”