Anxiety is the most common mental disorder in the world. Currently, it affects about one in 13 people, meaning that approximately 7.3 percent of the world's population is facing these struggles every day. For someone who doesn't have it (lucky them!), it may seem like something that can easily be shrugged off. I'm sure that many who are struggling with their mental health have heard their "just-cheer-up's" more than enough.
Quite recently, someone started a thread on Twitter about what anxiety feels like. The person wrote that their anxiety feels like an increased heart rate, worrying about the future, feeling disconnected from the world and other symptoms. Other people started sharing their symptoms as well, thus making the thread go viral with almost 17k likes. Scroll down below to read people's answers on what anxiety feels like to them and comment on whether you've dealt with the same struggles (and even maybe how you managed to overcome them!).
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This sounds more like depression than anxiety. (I've got both, so no criticisms.)
Yeah. I thought I was alone. But, I realized (through this article) that I'm not.
this is also more like depression than anxiety, except maybe the last one
I absolutely hate change; one small thing makes me mad because I follow a routine. I blame everything on myself, and always second guess things like even making a sandwich. or commenting on a post. I used to feel like my room was a prison, but now that's the only place I want to be( I am a teenager tho so idk). I get triggered at very small things, like a drop of glue on the side of the bottle or dropping a book. I don't really fear interactions though, unless it's with someone new or with someone of interest. I am actually very extroverted lol. Now I am even second-guessing writing this because I feel like I will be judged somehow :(
waking up with a fast heartbeat and difficulty breathing because of the anxiety is like a torture to me. There is nothing more i desire in this world to get rid of that feeling
I find that when I start a new relationship (platonic or not) I immediately think about the end.
I definitely feel like I easily annoy most people. I am sorry this person feels the rest of these.. =‘(
Oh, all of these I know well. My husband used to call me Shakey McTwitch. I always have the remote in my hand in case there's a loud noise on tv. I'm a gunslinger with the mute button. I don't leave the house for weeks on end because even the thought of going to the store is overwhelming and too stressful. Anxiety sucks, it can take over your life.
Soul deep exhaustion is such a great description. It's almost like your mind won't shut off the thoughts of anticipation of what you need to do, it's always overthinking, and it spreads down from your mind to your body. Just thinking about and anticipating what might happen (and of course it's always worst-case scenarios and never fabulous things) that make it almost feel like your body has already done the things. It's probably your thoughts triggering hormones that trick your body into thinking it has experienced the bad things you thought about.
Yeah, I'm always so tired, because i can't sleep. I'm constantly scared that my gf is going to break up with me, even though at the same time I know she's not.
And you breath fast and shallow because the chest is so tight, and your back is stiff like a board, neck muscles rigid, eyes wide open, and you think you're going to die. Your heart can't beat that fast and not explode.
Anxiety feels like: not being able to control anything Not being able to stop shaking Not being able to breathe Having panic attacks all the time Freaking out about everything Trying not to cry when the tears are already spilling out.
yep, I can relate. At lunch, I mostly stay quiet because when I speak, no one seems to react or care. I don't get invited too many places, which makes me feel like no one likes me or I have no friends. My hands are always sweaty, and people even ask me about them if they touch my hand for a high five or something like that. I worry about every little thing, and I feel like nothing sometimes :( today has been a hard day
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I've been advertising this to everyone I know with anxiety: ashwagandha, an herbal supplement, was recently recommended to me and has been effective when various pharmaceutical meds have not. It's aka "Indian ginger" and treated as a spice like turmeric (curcumin). It reduces cortisol in the body. Check for medication interactions and whatnot, of course. If anxiety is your body's alarm system, alerting the firefighters to get ready and deal with a problem, normally the alarm system turns off after it's served its purpose. If the alarm system doesn't go off, it just sounds continuously at a deafening volume and feels like it incapacitates the firefighters. After a week of ashwagandha, I feel like the mechanism for my body's alarm system was fixed and could finally turn the alarm off, relieving the deafening catastrophizing and finally rallying the firefighters. I personally am taking six 500mg capsules a day.
I will check if it interferes with any of my meds but I like the idea
Load More Replies...Being unhappy is made even worse, (for me, and the way anxiety affects myself in particular) being happy is short and fragile, (there's always a tiny bit of stress in my mind and it only goes away for brief moments- it gets even worse when I'm happy, because I'm so unused to it, it feels like the calm before the storm) and when you try to push it away, it hits you back a few moments later, three times as hard. And yeah! Small tasks seem huge, even the simplest ones.
Anxiety is like sitting at a fork in the road, thinking that the first path is going to lead to death and the second path is going to be extremely painful....but you have to pick one.
I'm so tired of saying, "I have anxiety" or putting "anxiety" on my medical forms. I'm so tired of worrying about everything. I'm so tired.
I just came out of a relationship with my ex GF having anxiety and panic attacks. Reading this just breaks my heart into a million pieces! =( There's so many commonalities. I feel I could have handled stuff better. Is there anyone with good advice how to 'handle' being the outsider to someone with anxiety?!
Anxiety (and depression) aren't always this extreme, but you can still get help. My anxiety made me obsess on every dumb thing I'd ever done in my life, no matter how trivial, when I wasn't distracted by other things. I couldn't turn it off. I got on some low-key anti-anxiety meds, and after about a week, I found I was able to shut it off (huzzah for being able to take a shower without having to hum the whole time to distract myself from my dumb brain). This year I changed over to an anti-anxiety/anti-depressive and just two days in I felt great. Actually great. It was like there was this background noise in my life that suddenly went away, or like my radio was finally tuned in. You don't have to be completely dysfunctional to have anxiety or depression, and modern psychiatric medications don't make you a zombie or hyper. You don't even need to go to a psychiatrist to get help—your regular MD can get you started.
anxiety feels like you are trapped in a cubicle without air windows and doors
Anxiety for me is telling the truth. When I speak people realize they don’t wanna hear the truth.
It's good to see anxiety being talked of. When I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder I thought I was the only one about 10 years ago.
Just reading all of these was triggering my anxiety ... Come on meds don't fail me now!
I hate that I'm never able to be calm and happy for more than a few hours at a time. If I solve one problem, I immediately hyper-focus on another (everything is a crisis). And even when everything is going well and I know I have nothing to worry about, I keep overthinking and still have this constant feeling of dread.
I always worry but I don't think it's anxiety... That's like my only symptom that fits these descriptions... :/
Currently in the middle of a massive low, they are cyclic! Anxiety was a new one for me a few months back though. It got so bad that I couldn't converse with anyone outside my close circle of colleagues at work. Visiting another department for something was a terrifying experience. I have no idea where it came from, and I never want that constant overriding fear again. I blame quitting smoking, it's thrown me in so many ways.
This is an incredibly selfish disease, or frame of mind, or what ever classification it's in. My husband has suffered with this for a few years now. No change in sight. So I have to handle EVERYTHING in my life and his. I equate it with having a child I never wanted, but the child will never grow up an seems to only get worse. He's not in it alone. I suffer for him every day and hate every minute of it. Not a day goes by I don't think about packing my things and leaving him and everything behind. But love is a b***h . . . and so am I . . .
If he isn't getting professional help he needs to. If the help he IS getting isn't working, he needs to find better help. I won't encourage you to stay or go, ultimately you need to do what you need to do for your own mental health and happiness. But I will encourage you to at least try for something better first. I hope this comes off as a kind and caring response. I have bad anxiety and Bipolar I. I am not easy to live with, I know this. But if my wife ever got to the point where my health was making her unhealthy or unhappy in any way, I would want her to go. It breaks my heart to even imagine it, but I love her too much to require her to stay. I would, however, do whatever it would take to at least try to make things better first. Not only does he deserve to feel better, YOU DO TOO! I hope you both find some much needed relief.
Load More Replies...I've been advertising this to everyone I know with anxiety: ashwagandha, an herbal supplement, was recently recommended to me and has been effective when various pharmaceutical meds have not. It's aka "Indian ginger" and treated as a spice like turmeric (curcumin). It reduces cortisol in the body. Check for medication interactions and whatnot, of course. If anxiety is your body's alarm system, alerting the firefighters to get ready and deal with a problem, normally the alarm system turns off after it's served its purpose. If the alarm system doesn't go off, it just sounds continuously at a deafening volume and feels like it incapacitates the firefighters. After a week of ashwagandha, I feel like the mechanism for my body's alarm system was fixed and could finally turn the alarm off, relieving the deafening catastrophizing and finally rallying the firefighters. I personally am taking six 500mg capsules a day.
I will check if it interferes with any of my meds but I like the idea
Load More Replies...Being unhappy is made even worse, (for me, and the way anxiety affects myself in particular) being happy is short and fragile, (there's always a tiny bit of stress in my mind and it only goes away for brief moments- it gets even worse when I'm happy, because I'm so unused to it, it feels like the calm before the storm) and when you try to push it away, it hits you back a few moments later, three times as hard. And yeah! Small tasks seem huge, even the simplest ones.
Anxiety is like sitting at a fork in the road, thinking that the first path is going to lead to death and the second path is going to be extremely painful....but you have to pick one.
I'm so tired of saying, "I have anxiety" or putting "anxiety" on my medical forms. I'm so tired of worrying about everything. I'm so tired.
I just came out of a relationship with my ex GF having anxiety and panic attacks. Reading this just breaks my heart into a million pieces! =( There's so many commonalities. I feel I could have handled stuff better. Is there anyone with good advice how to 'handle' being the outsider to someone with anxiety?!
Anxiety (and depression) aren't always this extreme, but you can still get help. My anxiety made me obsess on every dumb thing I'd ever done in my life, no matter how trivial, when I wasn't distracted by other things. I couldn't turn it off. I got on some low-key anti-anxiety meds, and after about a week, I found I was able to shut it off (huzzah for being able to take a shower without having to hum the whole time to distract myself from my dumb brain). This year I changed over to an anti-anxiety/anti-depressive and just two days in I felt great. Actually great. It was like there was this background noise in my life that suddenly went away, or like my radio was finally tuned in. You don't have to be completely dysfunctional to have anxiety or depression, and modern psychiatric medications don't make you a zombie or hyper. You don't even need to go to a psychiatrist to get help—your regular MD can get you started.
anxiety feels like you are trapped in a cubicle without air windows and doors
Anxiety for me is telling the truth. When I speak people realize they don’t wanna hear the truth.
It's good to see anxiety being talked of. When I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder I thought I was the only one about 10 years ago.
Just reading all of these was triggering my anxiety ... Come on meds don't fail me now!
I hate that I'm never able to be calm and happy for more than a few hours at a time. If I solve one problem, I immediately hyper-focus on another (everything is a crisis). And even when everything is going well and I know I have nothing to worry about, I keep overthinking and still have this constant feeling of dread.
I always worry but I don't think it's anxiety... That's like my only symptom that fits these descriptions... :/
Currently in the middle of a massive low, they are cyclic! Anxiety was a new one for me a few months back though. It got so bad that I couldn't converse with anyone outside my close circle of colleagues at work. Visiting another department for something was a terrifying experience. I have no idea where it came from, and I never want that constant overriding fear again. I blame quitting smoking, it's thrown me in so many ways.
This is an incredibly selfish disease, or frame of mind, or what ever classification it's in. My husband has suffered with this for a few years now. No change in sight. So I have to handle EVERYTHING in my life and his. I equate it with having a child I never wanted, but the child will never grow up an seems to only get worse. He's not in it alone. I suffer for him every day and hate every minute of it. Not a day goes by I don't think about packing my things and leaving him and everything behind. But love is a b***h . . . and so am I . . .
If he isn't getting professional help he needs to. If the help he IS getting isn't working, he needs to find better help. I won't encourage you to stay or go, ultimately you need to do what you need to do for your own mental health and happiness. But I will encourage you to at least try for something better first. I hope this comes off as a kind and caring response. I have bad anxiety and Bipolar I. I am not easy to live with, I know this. But if my wife ever got to the point where my health was making her unhealthy or unhappy in any way, I would want her to go. It breaks my heart to even imagine it, but I love her too much to require her to stay. I would, however, do whatever it would take to at least try to make things better first. Not only does he deserve to feel better, YOU DO TOO! I hope you both find some much needed relief.
Load More Replies...