I don’t think I have ever met anyone who was never anxious about something. To some degree, I think we all have a little bit of anxiety; some of us just have many more triggers. For anyone who has ever had an experience with anxiety knows the following to be all too true.
1. New People
Every time you get thrown into a situation that requires meeting new people. You are constantly rehearsing in your head what you are going to say. You are going over and over it with different tones of voices to make sure it sounds alright. It’s not so much that you are nervous about meeting them, just more concerned with their impression of you; which leads me to my next point.
2. First Impressions
After you meet someone new, you are always wondering what they thought of you. Do they like you? Did you shake their hand too tightly? Did you make a good first impression? All these thoughts rush into your head.
3. Second Guessing
One of the many problems with anxiety is that it leaves you second-guessing yourself. Did you really lock the door behind you when you left? Are you absolutely sure? Then you go and double check to make sure the door was locked because second-guessing.
4. Unplanned Possibilities
Your mind lets you think of even the most unlikely possibilities. You need to have options because what if someone goes wrong. Literally if the craziest thing in the world happens, they should probably go to someone who has anxiety because they are prepared for the craziest scenarios. I'm willing to bet that someone out there has a plan. That’s the thing, people with anxiety have a Plan L for a Plan A.
5. Convinced everyone hates you
After a weird encounter, you are constantly wondering if you did something to upset someone. You're not sure what you did to Suzie but you are 100 percent sure that she hates you. And she won’t be talking to you anytime soon, because you know, you think she hates you.
6. Pessimistic
Everyone views you as a pessimist but in reality you are just thinking of all the options. You can go from the best option to the worst possibility in a matter of seconds. That’s just how your mind works, you are expecting the worst case scenario automatically.
7. Impulsivity
Impulsivity is not your thing. Being spontaneous is something that you are not good at. Basically anything that doesn't involve planning is not something you want to be a part of. No, you can't just get up and go do something because that's not how this works.
Anyone who has anxiety knows that there are still many things that run through your head besides the problems listed above. It’s not of if you experience these problems, its really just a matter of when. Hopefully everyone who suffers from anxiety knows they are not alone.
