Everyone is Different

I have lived a life full of uncertainty, but the one thing I can be sure of is my anxiety. Hopefully what I have shared so far about my personal experiences has brought some awareness to your own lives. The definition for anxiety is vague because there are several different types of anxiety disorders. Not to mention that anxiety in general is something most people feel with or without a diagnosed disorder. This chapter will focus on how anxiety manifests within people. Along with the effects it has on both your physical and mental health. While also discerning the importance of seeing your anxiety as a valid emotion and not a burden to those around you.

What Does Anxiety Look Like?

Anxiety can rear its ugly head in many ways. So, how does one even identify their anxiety? Some anxiety symptoms are obvious. For example, that general nervous feeling. I know you all have felt it before, that familiar unease of that bastard lurking in your body. The inability to focus because you are so uncomfortable. Yeah, that’s anxiety for you. But, what if I told you stomach pain, hot flashes, fatigue, or shortness of breath are also markers of anxiety (Shri 101). Yeah, all pretty vague indistinct symptoms that one might not necessarily associate with the disorder - and that’s only the start. The symptoms are so all over the place, that there are actually lists of diseases with identical markers to anxiety. These include IBS, asthma, and congestive heart failure, just to name a few (107). This makes anxiety very easy to mistake for another disease. So yeah, not to freak you out, but anxiety can sometimes disguise itself, meaning your doctors’ prognosis might not always be right. It’s important to look for these other markers of anxiety to ensure you are getting the right treatment. I’m here to help you learn about these things and provide insight into how anxiety affects the way you feel both physically and mentally.

It’s funny thinking back to my childhood and realizing that my doctors were totally unaware of my anxiety residing in my stomach. All of my adolescence, I lived with stomach issues. In and out of the doctor’s office frequently, my mom and I were always faced with the same flat answer, “she’s just got a sensitive stomach.” I always had a hunch that there was another reason, but 10-year-old me shook it off pretty fast. What can I say? I had monkey bars to go swing on. Looking back now as an

adult, and for the most part not distracted by monkey bars, I am pretty certain that anxiety was the culprit for that mystery. Now, I see the correlation between when I am feeling anxious and when I feel sick. Which is an important self-analyzation of myself that has helped me to better understand my personal experience with anxiety.

I guess you could say I have outgrown parts of my anxiety. However, I do feel that the little bastard has decided to find new places to live. One of the biggest symptoms I experience now is shortness of breath. It’s like having a 20lb weight dropped on your chest and getting the wind knocked out of you. If you have ever found yourself suffering from vague symptoms like this for no apparent reason, it wouldn’t hurt to do a little selfanalyzation and then talk to a doctor.

Your Anxiety is Valid

Whether you suffer from a disorder or are simply going through a stressful time in your life, it is good to keep in mind that your anxiety is natural, and your experience is perfectly valid. Something I don’t necessarily hear outright, but I tend to feel, is that others don’t quite “get me.” I know, I know, that sentence alone gave away my Aquarius need to be different. What I mean is that people don’t always know how to act when I start getting upset because of my anxiety. They don’t understand why I am crying about something that hasn’t even happened. That’s just how anxiety works. Until you are experiencing it for yourself, it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. What is just a drop in the bucket to someone else, can feel like the end of the world to me. This, unfortunately, leads to me feeling like a burden to those I turn to for support.

What I, and most people, want from a community is validity. I want my friends and family to reassure me that what I am feeling is normal and that I am not crazy. However, as nice as it is to be validated by others, it is most important to validate yourself first. Accepting your anxiety for what it is, protects you from playing victim to its torment (Foran 67). Your anxiety is real and that is okay. This might seem like a small idea to note, but nothing is worse than sitting there, already in distress, adding to the pain by judging yourself for how you feel. Validating your feelings is crucial in accepting your anxiety.