Most people don’t understand what it’s like for someone who has an anxiety disorder. Anxiety attacks come with no warning and often you don’t know why.

Anxiety is a disorder that many people suffer from. I was formally diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder when I was sixteen, but I have been dealing with it much longer than that.

Let me explain it to the people who don’t understand it.

At times, I will get a pit in my stomach or have trouble breathing when I feel that something isn’t right. Everything can be just fine, but my mind will trick me into thinking something is wrong.

I will convince myself that everything I’m doing is wrong. I stay up at night worrying about one thing and then lead myself to start worrying about another. My mind is constantly going 24/7 trying to convince myself that things aren’t right.

I try to tell my myself everything is ok… but sometimes it is impossible to believe that.

Anxiety will send me into a depression. A depression that causes me to hate myself for being so irrational at times. The depression is the worst part. It makes me want to be alone. I often feel like no one will understand my thoughts and cannot help me.

I cannot control my anxiety and that is something you need to understand.

I am not crazy because I have anxiety and take medicine for it. You don’t have to tell me that I am acting irrational, I am well aware of that. I know my thoughts are irrational and you telling me that there is something wrong with me doesn’t help me feel any better.

Telling me “don’t think about it” or “quit worrying” doesn’t solve all my problems either. That’s not how anxiety works. I don’t choose to constantly worry. My mind is always convincing myself that there is a problem.

Anxiety attacks come on in the most inconvenient times. So, when it happens, just be patient and try to understand.

Everyone’s anxiety disorder is different.

Try to be understanding about what it is like to have a mental illness and be there for that person. They need you the most when they feel as if they have no one.