A person who overthinks, worries and a person who worries, has anxiety.
You feel trapped. Overwhelmed. Stressed. And the anxiety keeps coming. I describe it as playing a movie in slow motion. You see everyone around you laughing, smiling and being successful. Everywhere you turn people are excited for this, disappointed with that and most of all, you see people searching for happiness in all the wrong places. I say slow motion because you want to hit pause and chill, but you can't. You're still moving because there isn't ever a pause button. Slowly moving because you're worried if you go too fast you might mess up or if you try to sit down you might never get moving again. You know how slow motion shows every emotion on peoples faces? It's very similar. You show, feel and think several emotions constantly.
You spend the long days stressing. Worried that blah blah blah and over thinking this this and this. You're stressed, but when people ask you, "Why are you stressed?" you don't have an explanation. The hardest part about all of it is not having an explanation. But the more you try to come up with an explanation the more you overthink it. You stress about everything: school work, laundry, friends you haven't spoken to in years and small things like what to have for dinner.
Worrying is nothing to take lightly. I love the quote, "Don't worry be happy," but that's a hard quote to live by when you worry constantly. Worrying doesn't ever get you anywhere, but you are trapped and never will stop worrying. You worry about the smallest things. When you share with someone who doesn't worry, you sound silly. Therefore, people always make you feel dumb. When you let someone know you're worried or stressed about something small, people blow you off. They say things like, "You're worrying too much," or, "Stop overthinking". You have to remain calm and thank them for their advice no matter how much it didn't help.
Overthinking kills the brain. You overthink everything. You overthink without knowing you're over thinking. You will worry about something seven months down the road and not realize it till someone alerts you that you're over thinking.
The worst part with anxiety is people try to tell you it's in your head. They say, "You're fine," or, "Calm down." People don't understand that anxiety takes over. You literally just sit there and wait for your body to decide to stop shaking. You try to focus on breathing but once you realize you're struggling to breathe you freak out even more so you can't catch your breath. Most people just stare at you and think you're going crazy. You feel weird and alone. You want to stare back at them and ask them why they aren't helping you calm down.
You try stress relief lotion, essential oils and have your boyfriend call you on the phone to calm you down, but nothing works all the way.
You don't sleep at night. You lay awake overthinking. You lay your head down on your pillow after a long day, close your eyes and try to get a good night's sleep. That's when your brain decides to fully wake up. You toss and turn. You even go to the extreme of asking your brain to turn off so you can sleep. But that's when you start thinking about your day, what you're going to do tomorrow, who's still upset with you, who you're going to disappoint, you start regretting things and putting yourself down for past trials. You start feeling overwhelmed because you're just trying to sleep and you can't. So you sit up and scroll through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. You open up Netflix and watch five episodes of Friends. Then you look at the clock and realize it's 2 a.m. Then you nap everyday because your body wears itself out.
You're trapped. Overwhelmed. Stressed. And the anxiety keeps coming.
The next time you encounter someone who overthinks, overly stresses or has anxiety, think about this article and give them a hug. No words can solve any of these things, but understanding and offering a helping hand will always be accepted.
