Everyone has a little bit of anxiety. We all enter phases or states in our lives in which we feel anxious or we feel like we are gasping for air to breathe.
Have you ever gotten taken down by an ocean wave, tossed and turned around with the sea salt, holding your breath, gasping for air, trying to pick yourself back up? Better yet, imagine a brick being placed on your chest, and then another one, and another one, until you need someone to help you unload some of the bricks because the weight was too heavy.
This is what it feels like to have anxiety. Everything can be going perfectly fine in your life, or maybe you feel like your hard work is finally paying off, and then even the smallest life event can leave you feeling like a tornado spinning out of control. I mean this is life in general, but people with anxiety have to learn to cope again and again in any new situation they are thrown into.
Some people are not always able to pinpoint when they started to realize signs of anxiety. It is almost like it becomes a daze, and you do not really realize that you are struggling, until there has been a buildup and one day you just explode. It may be something that has just been so unconscious to you, and unfortunately when you finally realize what has been occurring in your body, that is when you finally snap out of your daze.
Sometimes we enter moments where we feel like stress is eating us from the inside out, or anxiety consumes every cell in our body. Sometimes we don't know if we are feeling stressed or anxious, or both. Stress is external forces, anxiety is an internal response. There's a difference.
I could truly write a book, explaining the ins and outs of anxiety. The number of relationships (marriages, friendships, etc.) that crumble because the one learning to cope with anxiety is seen as "crazy or psycho." It is hard to be a supporter for someone suffering from ANY type of mental illness. The truth is, anxiety cannot be taken lightly and it really is not a joke.
Our society seems to allow "anxiety" as something so normal, yet so many people are crying for help. Sometimes, we need just one person, one human to hear us out, to listen, and to understand what is happening and occurring in our brains.
This is why we can never judge, or call someone crazy, call someone too emotional, or tell someone they don't care enough. Who are we to judge someone else's heart? Just because we deal with the loss of a loved one, a breakup, family problems, stress and anxiety with work or school- this doesn't mean that we should ever judge someone. Remember, that everyone has something. Someone may struggle mentally, while the next person struggles physically.
Instead, we need to remember that the person before us is in our life for a reason, and if we feel like we know deep down who they truly are, then we cannot judge them when they hit rock bottom. Sometimes our emotions fly off the charts and instead we need to just be there.
We may just need to hug them while they cry, and just simply be there because I can promise you one thing: someone with anxiety is the type of person that knows how to be brave and strong, and they will always be there for you.
