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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Anna Spargo-Ryan

I’m a middle-aged mother who hoped boxing would fix anxiety. Instead it knocked me out

A woman in boxing gloves
‘My wonderful boxing friends assured me I could do it and I started to believe them, even though I was definitely going to pull out at the last minute,’ Anna Spargo-Ryan writes. Photograph: Westend61/Getty Images

I’ve spent most of my life being devoured by heart-exploding anxiety. “Doing scary things” has meant stuff like being out after dark and calling someone on the phone. It has never, for one minute, meant fist fighting in front of a crowd of people.

But a while ago I decided to try countering the anxiety by doing new stuff. With that in mind, I went to a boxing class. At worst, I figured, I could write a column about being a middle-aged mother in a young man’s world.

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