I've done many articles on anxiety before simply because it's something I can write about nonstop. I deal with it every single day -- and I hate it. But having anxiety has given me strength, confidence, and has made me into the person I am today.
Anxiety comes in a ton of different forms: there's generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, PTSD, and OCD. For me, I have generalized, but all the types of anxieties are greatly linked.
For those of you who have to deal with anxiety every day, you'll understand where I'm coming from. But for those who don't, I'm going to try and describe just exactly how anxiety feels.
Anxiety is a constant, repetitive battle with your thoughts, which eventually leads to physical pain. Imagine having constant, negative thoughts about a situation, about yourself, or about nothing at all. Take that mental pain and add it onto a headache, weakness, nausea, and sadness. But, imagine not knowing when your anxiety is going to come over your body. No matter how hard you try to think different thoughts, your anxiety continuously reminds your brain that it isn't going away.
When one gets anxious, their palms get all sweaty, their chest breaks out in red blotches, their hands shake, their heart pounds out of their chest, their body is stiff, their head is aching, and their mind is a mess. All someone with anxiety wants to do is bundle up and cry, hoping someone will listen and understand. But the worst part of it all is having to deal with the anxiety that you cannot explain.
What's hard is there are still people who don't believe anxiety is a valid excuse. People that don't treat people with anxiety seriously. Those people are the ones who simply do not understand what it's like. Those are the people who tell those who are having an anxiety attack to 'get over it'. Those are the people who think anxiety is just sadness.
When someone doesn't understand anxiety, I like to bring upon them some situations that feel like anxiety. One thing I tell people is that anxiety is when you send a crush a text message or a Snapchat, not knowing what their reply will be. Will it be a good reply? Will they open and ignore? Will it be the worst reply ever? All the emotional buildup put into that text message relies on the person at the other end of the line.
Another scenario that helps people understand anxiety would be presenting in front of a group of strangers, with no help, no partners, and not a face in the room that you know. The room is filled with 50+ teachers and students and this presentation can make or break for your grade. Are you gonna stutter? Are you gonna freeze up? Was the presentation your best work?
No one who has anxiety wants anxiety, and we all want people to stop saying it's "just sadness". Because anxiety is far from sadness. It's the biggest mix of emotions one may ever feel. Until you've experienced anxiety and gone down paths to try to help it, you'll never understand what it's like. An anxiety attack is the scariest thing I've ever gone through. Trying so hard to be able to catch my breath, running for my inhaler to calm down, and having to break down in tears for my feelings to pour out is something I don't wish on anyone. And I hope people soon realize that anxiety is nothing to joke about.
