How Shawn Mendes deals with anxiety

It’s old news by now, but at one time Shawn Mendes was hiding something like a dirty little secret.

The Canadian superstar was battling with anxiety in total silence until he realized that speaking out and talking about his struggle was the best way he could get a grip on the condition.

“Opening up helps me a lot,” Shawn tells me. “Staying close with family and friends and having great people around you, that’s number one. You have to let those people in.”

Shawn first publicly addressed his anxiety disorder earlier this year through the lead single of his self-titled third studio album, “In My Blood.”

He sings:

Help me, it’s like the walls are caving in
Sometimes I feel like giving up
No medicine is strong enough
Someone help me
I’m crawling in my skin
Sometimes I feel like giving up
But I just can’t
It isn’t in my blood

The chart-topping hit chronicles Shawn’s struggle and does it in a positive light with the message that there is a glimmer of hope at the end of what can feel like a long dark tunnel.

Following the release of “In My Blood,” Shawn revealed that anxiety first hit him about a year ago while on his first headlining international tour. Practically over night, the superstar went from playing cover songs in his Pickering, Ontario bedroom to performing on the stages of sold-out arenas around the world.

The sudden fame was simply a lot to deal with in such a short period of time.

Getting a handle on stardom isn’t easy. We’ve all seen celebrities, especially the young, struggle with fame and turn to drugs and alcohol for an escape or way to cope.

While Shawn admits to indulging in a few drinks now and then to ease his mind, he says he is making big efforts to stay level-headed and on course when so many have crashed.

“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” he comments.

So how does he do it?

“Really, just knowing what’s important to you, and that’s the music, the fans and performing live,” he says. “As long as I focus on those things, I don’t get distracted.”

Shawn just won the 2018 American Music Award for Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year.

The superstar is set to embark on his self-titled world tour in 2019 with stops including Montreal’s Bell Centre on Wednesday, August 21 2019. Click here for complete tour dates.

Posted by Marc Andrew on Oct 10 2018. Filed under ChitChat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.