Understanding What It's Like to Live With Anxiety

It's a beautiful day, it seems like a normal day, you could be at work, at the grocery store, or at school and out of the blue, your mind starts building worry and fear that something isn't right, your mind is tricking itself into believing that something is wrong. You begin to have racing thoughts and begin to feel jittery and tense, you lose complete focus on the present moment, you are shaking, and you feel overwhelmed.

Then, you start to feel alone because you don't know how to handle this situation; you might even start crying, but nothing is wrong.

You end up feeling physically and mentally exhausted, you ruined the day and feel absolutely terrible for doing so.

This is what anxiety looks like: Constantly worrying when nothing is wrong. Some people experience this every day.

We all deal with anxiety in some form or another, whether it's when you're pulled over by the cops or about to give a presentation in front of a crowd. But for some, anxiety is a much stronger, more fearsome force, one that never goes away.

It can be a variety of things that sets off anxiety or nothing at all. For example, public places or big crowds can set anxiety trigger for many. This may sound absolutely ridiculous to you. Things that are simple or no-brainers for others cause them extreme anxiety.

Many people don't know that anxiety is a physical problem as well as a psychological problem. Anxiety not only affects the mind but also the body, it causes muscle tension, sleep disturbances and overthinking, causing people with anxiety to be exhausted most of the time.

Anxiety commonly leads to depression, especially in those that try to live with it every day, because they are fighting a battle with their own mind, anxiety causes them to feel frustrated and fall into sadness because they feel irrational and crazy at times for the little control they have over their own thoughts.

No matter how many times a person with an anxiety tells themselves to calm down and that there is nothing wrong, they still have the feeling. Chest pains, racing heartbeat, sweating, shakiness, dizziness, and nausea are also symptoms of an anxiety attack. It is a serious detriment to their everyday activities, like school, work, and even hanging out with friends, everything takes so much effort to do.

Anxiety isn’t just overblown nervousness.

Don't tell someone you know with anxiety to “Get over it”, to calm down or call them weak.

They already know that their anxiety-induced behavior isn’t healthy. They don’t need criticism. They need positive reinforcement rather than negativity.

Those who suffer from anxiety may feel alone in their disorder. They feel like no one believes that simple “nervousness” could be so crippling, therefore is so important to be more understanding of those with anxiety, you’re simply affirming the truth of their experience by letting them know that you believe them and that their experience is valid, and that you don’t think they’re “doing it for the attention”.

Although it may not sound like much to you, this is a huge deal for those who suffer from mental illness.

Anxious people can be irritable. They can be quick to anger. They can seem irrational, misjudging your remarks and expressions as being more negative than you meant. Try to be patient and don’t expect them to get better in a short amount of time.

Anxiety is a serious issue, it disrupts their daily lives and makes them a living hell. If you know someone with anxiety understand that it isn't their fault and sometimes they can't control when they are anxious or when they have an anxiety attack.

One of the best gifts that you can give to someone with anxiety is your listening ear.

You may already know what anxiety does in general, but take the time to get to know how their anxiety personally affects them. It’s different for everyone.

Be aware and care.