From Michele: Anxiety. It’s a common problem which affects many of us. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America’s website, “nearly 40 million people in the United States (18%) experience an anxiety disorder in any given year.” Which is almost 1/4 of the population. In spite of this statistic, many of us struggle in silence. We are embarrassed and/or ashamed as we don’t feel quite “normal.” But maybe that’s making us more anxious… that we feel ALONE in the battle. So today, I’m letting Taylor share her story of what it’s like to deal with anxiety.
Let’s open up the floor to this topic and if you struggle, please submit your story.
Taylor & Anxiety
Ever since I graduated college and earned my seal of approval from society as a full-fledged adult, I have experienced anxiety. I guess it’s taking me a while to adjust to this whole “adulting” thing, but at age 26 I am already over it. Things I never thought about before are now constant things I worry about. I think one day I kind of woke up out of obliviousness and realized what life really was, how people really are, and what this world really is.
Life gave me angst, and continues to when I have my almost daily existential crisis. Living with anxiety can be really hard because it’s difficult to explain and pinpoint what causes it.
I believe my anxiety is related to stress and just bad energies.
I am 100% an empath, and I can feel negative energy around me and when it’s negative it starts to bring me down. These types of things can be whatever life throws at you: car problems, credit card info being stolen, confusion about taxes, being a harsh self-critic, health care issues, being stuck in traffic, dealing with difficult people, and so on. Now I know these things are all part of our daily lives, but sometimes I wonder if a simple life is more stress free?
Sometimes my anxiety gets so bad that I get scared to leave the house.
It’s not like I can’t leave, and I often do leave. I’m not afraid of the outside, the sun or anything like that. My anxiety keeps me inside, because why go outside when I’m so comfortable right here? It’s easier to wallow in the angst rather than to actually do something about it. But see that’s the thing. When you actually DO something you can break the cycle. I recently have been trying to adapt new habits of positive thinking and behaviors. Every negative thought is challenge by a positive, optimistic one that immediately shuts it down. It’s like have your own personal Janet from The Good Place to constantly have your back!
You literally have to 1v1 your psyche, because perhaps your psyche developed in such a way because of traumatic experiences – that happened 15 or 20 years ago.
We need to adapt our psyche to the things we know now as adults – reprogram yourself.
Tell yourself good things, happy things, light-hearted things. Do not tell yourself that you can’t do this, or that you aren’t good enough, or anything along those lines. You have to challenge yourself to break the cycle of anxiety, it can be overcome and dealt with, but that doesn’t mean it will go away. Just get in tune with yourself and learn how to defeat it. Nobody deserves to live a life full of anxiety, so don’t let it win.