ANXIETY | the invisible monster

chest pains – heavy breathing – shaky hands – racing mind. what am I worried about this time? 

Anxiety.

what does it feel like you ask? It feels like you are being chased by a monster, constantly. You can’t see it but, oh, can you feel it. 

Always concerned, feeling uneasy, will I do it wrong? Did I do it wrong?  what will go wrong? something has to go wrong?

fight – flight. 

will they leave? they will leave. Did I say it right? I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have done that. Why did I react that way? I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I couldn’t control it. 

overthinking.

I can’t go in there. something will happen. I will fail. I can’t do that. Can I do that? It won’t be good. People are judging me. why are my hands sweating? they’ll notice you’re anxious. calm yourself down. I have to get out of here. 

Isolation.

I don’t want to talk to anyone. I want friends. I want to be alone. Do people like me anyway? I don’t want to be around anyone. I’m weird, am I weird? I’m not good enough. Am I a good person? I want a reach out to them. Don’t reach out, they are better without you. 

Anxiety.

It’s physical, it’s emotional, it can break you. Anxiety often translate into loss of opportunities, self-sabotage, self-isolation, defense mechanisms you wish you didn’t have, fragmented relationships & that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  To overcome it, to overcome the awful side effects of having anxiety it takes so much active effort, it’s hard & it’s an everyday/ never ending process.  

Anxiety is NOT cute, 

anxiety is NOT a personality trait, 

anxiety is NOT the same thing as feeling stressed out. 

Anxiety is a mental illness. Sometimes it has specific triggers & sometimes, everything could be a trigger. 

STOP downplaying it  & STOP using the term “anxiety” to refer to everyday stressors.