never not dealing with it. what if it were easier for you to deal with pets than with people ? i can t imagine living without dogs. and what if you went from endurance athletes to wheelchair bound in just six months? you realize oh, this isn t going the way this is my life, you know? how would you cope? tonight we ll meet three people who overcame their odds by doing something that you might think is a joke. we re setting out on a strange trip. but stick with us. it s all about to make sense. think back on your childhood for a moment. do you remember the first time you saw mickey? how excited you were on your face? do you remember watching cartoons as a kid and the happiness that brought you entire industries have been built on this. on having kids experienced this magic. but what if you never grew out of that feeling? there are people whose affinity for animal characters never went away. people like lindsey. you okay? you sure? yes the first thing i notice about her is that
sean was a military brat whose family moved often unable to keep friends. he retreated to the cartoon world. where did your interest in animated animal characters begin? anthropomorphic reports from more fancy? um just around 10 years old and this cartoon came on and just kind of blew my mind. isn t it made an impact on you? i liked that it was this imaginary world you could escape into. you know bad things happen, but everything turns out okay? sean drew elaborate cartoons enrolled in theater and later signed up to be the high school mascot didn t really play sports in high school. so that was my sports was performing artistic kid was the lewis and clark tiger for two years. but
moment my heart breaks for sean. it becomes clear to me why he has chosen to isolate himself. excuse me. nearly six years later, sean finished out his military service and left with extreme ptsd. he s on numerous therapists and ultimately moved away from anything that could trigger his anxiety, never not dealing with it. but being out here, there s a flow to this valley. with the wildlife and the weather. it s very lonely, but one of the things that helps me with ptsd it s projects. constant projects. long days on
his hands, sean found comfort in the imaginary world of his childhood. he began to create an experiment with cosplay. dressing up is pop culture in sci fi characters. then he came across a community where he could perform as the very thing he loved as a child and animal when you first found out about the world of the furries, what about it appealed to you the acceptance. everybody s like, oh, my god, you re cool. let me give you a hug. just a very supportive and very nurturing environment. through the online furry community found a way to move forward and come back to society through his first sona. boone s right now he s an art piece right now. he s an art piece. yeah but he s going to come to life. he will let you know he s alive. who is captain burns. he is a creation out of necessity to evolve myself to give myself more confidence.
anxiety being able to go to these conventions. it s that community that comes together just like a giant family reunion for us. the community has clearly helped so many who have struggled and felt they didn t fit in. here for east feel they can be themselves. they can create share their love of art with others and even speak openly about how to deal with life outside of their costumes. welcome to the overcoming anxiety and building coping skills or, as i like to call it anxiety. surprised to see that sean, the hermit i met in the woods is leading one of the conventions seminars. i find it very funny that i m doing anxiety panel at a fair ikan because i have post traumatic stress disorder and the anxiety kind of derives from that, um, when i get really anxious, i just i lock up so, um. lost.