Anxiety is created by a range of things, including your genetics, early years of life, coping skills, substances, home and work life, people, and other mental health conditions.
It is important for us to understand the depths of anxiety, so that we can live a more mindful life. You can help someone who is struggling with anxiety by understanding and having compassion to how they feel and what they are experiencing.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is an emotion that is its own category and it is out of your control.
Stress is a response to a situation. No matter how stressed you feel, you have more control than you think of that emotion. Feeling stressed is common for everyone at some point, and is a healthy emotion to feel, but important to identify.
Anxiety is an uncontrollable wave of intense emotion, that is much more intense and to others would seem irrational. They may not understand what you are feeling, thinking, or experiencing.
What does anxiety feel like?
The problem is, is how can there be a right answer? The feeling is completely different for everyone. The best word we can use to describe it has been ‘stress’, but that has just made anxiety not seem as real or as serious.
Anxiety is serious. Not only is it completely out of your control, but it may feel like there is no answer or escape. It comes and goes on it’s own terms. It takes every part of your thoughts, intensifies them, and scrambles them. As a result you may feel and think stuff that may not even be real.
You may feel at war with yourself, lost, and alone.
Some common symptoms include:
Headaches
Sweating
Muscle tension
Rapid heartbeat
Needing reassurance
Panic attacks
Lack of patience
Trouble concentrating
Avoidance
Stomach issues
Memory issues
Insomnia
Trouble breathing
Constant worrying
Racing thoughts
Indecisiveness
How to recognize anxiety?
Anxiety is mostly from within, so it is hard to recognize. Having open conversations and communication about mental health is extremely important in order to recognize if someone you care about is struggling.
Learning about mental health will help you pick up on signs of symptoms. Asking never hurts. Understanding always helps. Supporting is love.
How to work with it:
You don’t have to fight off anxiety all the time, you can learn to work with it instead.
Working with anxiety looks different for everyone. Anxiety disorders can be improved drastically. Self awareness, self love, and support are key.
Acknowledging that you are struggling is brave. Asking for help and support is strong, and you are never alone.
XO,
Gaby