Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders. You probably know multiple people with anxiety, but it never shows. Sometimes it sneaks out in nervous habits like biting nails, tapping feet, or playing with hair. No one wants to talk about anxiety, or any mental disorder, because they don’t want to seem crazy. Mental illness has this stereotype with it; if you have a mental disorder then you must be crazy. That is completely false. Anxiety is genetic, and people can be born with it. Some people have low serotonin in their brain, which can also cause anxiety. Heck, even other mental disorders could lead to having some anxiety. Anxiety is misunderstood, and no one talks about what is truly going through a person’s head or what they feel like when they are anxious. Here are 10 things that people with anxiety want you to know:
1. When I cancel plans last minute, it is not because I didn’t want to hangout with you, it is because my anxiety was so debilitating today I couldn’t leave my house.
2. Sometimes I might snap at you when you do something that triggers my anxiety, but I’m not mad at you personally.
3. The reason I keep asking a question or rechecking if something is done is because my anxiety makes me double check everything.
4. Relationships can be hard with anxiety. It causes me to push others away because of my low self-esteem.
5. Anxiety is hard to understand, unless you have it, so I don’t expect you to completely understand it, but I do expect you to not tell me “calm down,” because that will make everything so much worse.
6. I always have thoughts in my head telling me very negative things about myself, which causes self-doubt. These thoughts are hard to control.
7. I may be playing with the ring on my finger or not making eye contact because I’m anxious, not because I don’t want to hear what you have to say.
8. I never know when my anxiety will hit me. It could be in the middle of a fun dinner with friends or when I’m alone at home.
9. Some days my anxiety is way worse than other days; please learn to deal with me on my bad days.
10. Anxiety has physical symptoms that come along with it such as upset stomach, muscle tension, and feeling like you can't breathe.
People with anxiety live a daily battle. They battle their negative thoughts and constant stress about almost anything or everything. They wish to tell people what is really going on in their head but are scared for being judged. It is hard for them to explain truly what is going on in their heads, but they want you to know that sometimes they just need you to be their for them.
