Living With Anxiety | The Stigma

At around 17 years old, I was diagnosed with anxiety and unfortunately, although I've come a long way my anxiety still likes to rear its’ ugly head every once in a while. It’s hard to deal with day to day life when you have the heavy feeling in your chest mixed with butterflies so strong they make you feel sick, but that's the reality for many people dealing with this.

It affects every person who battles it in a lot of different ways, which is why I can’t speak for everyone suffering but I can definitely say it is an extremely hard disorder to live with at the height of it’s aggression. It can make a person believe things that aren’t real for a split second and stop them having the courage to stand up to their worst fears. It supposedly stems from millions of years ago when our instincts were built to protect us from danger by sending a boost of adrenaline around our bodies.. This was to trigger the ‘fight or flight’ response, so anxiety is actually very normal, it’s just triggered more easily in some people than others.

It’s a hard thing to deal with, especially with the stigma surrounding mental health in today’s society. Mental illnesses aren’t seen the same as physical illnesses purely because there are often no physical symptoms. If someone had the flu, they’d call into work sick as they would be unable to work but in most workplaces, calling in due to poor mental health is frowned upon because there is no physical evidence to show exactly why the person is unfit for work. 

It’s a ridiculous stigma that needs to be broken and has needed to be for a while now, someone struggling does not make them weak. It means they need a second to gather, process and recover. 

Anyone and everyone fighting anxiety has my utmost support and admiration, it really takes a strong defense just to get out of bed and brush your teeth. In today’s world of Instagram and Twitter, it is very easy to assume your life is the only struggle and everyone else is carefree judging by the pictures of smiles and tidy houses but what you won’t see is some people’s houses after five consecutive down days. You won’t see the bitten nails after a bout of heavy anxiety or the manic rearranging of someone with OCD. It’s really hard to remember that social media portrays a perfect life but nobody is perfect and nearly everybody is fighting some kind of unseen battle.

When I get super panicked, I try to remember the breathing excercises the doctor taught me, listen to classical music and just take a minute to stop and gather my thoughts. At first it took a while and the solutions seemed impossible, I thought nothing would help but over time I have found my own ways of calming myself and getting through the hard days.

Hopefully this has provided some insight on how mental illnesses are still illnesses and shown that whoever you are, you aren’t alone in your struggle. My 'contact me' box is always open.

Until next time... 

G x