Let’s be honest with ourselves – most of us have experienced something people call “anxiety,” but how many of us have actually gone through it? Here’s the deal: anxiety is one of those feelings that can easily be misinterpreted or even faked. And for those who have truly experienced it, know that it can often be mishandled or left unaddressed.
I’m sure many who read this and believe anxiety does not exist are wondering, ‘Okay, and what are we going to do about it? It is their issue. But let’s take a moment to learn about anxiety, who knows, it could be handy to one of us later on, right?
So, what is anxiety?
Anxiety is like this bug in your head that gets triggered when something doesn’t happen as planned, or when you are unprepared for something, or even during normal circumstances that you fear might happen in the future. It is this uneasy, queasy feeling that makes you sweat, shiver, and even lead to a panic attack. Of course, how anxiety manifests depends on how serious a certain issue feels to you, but nevertheless, it’s one nasty and scary bug.
You know the mound of clothes you have piling up in your room, the clothes just keep accumulating, and one fine day your mum will come and yell at you for it, that’s exactly how anxiety works, small problems and pieces of your life keep accumulating till it all get too heavy for your mind and heart to hold, and you just burst.
Let me tell you a secret: I’ve had anxiety throughout high school, and I’ve never had a lot of people who truly understood what went on in my brain during those years. In fact, even right now, people are so quick to judge me. When I was in school, and I got an anxiety attack, people would make a huge deal about it. Some kids used to silently and subtly tease me for it, so naturally, I started dealing with it alone.
So out of habit, when I joined college, I made it a point to never show this to anyone. Moreover, I never wanted to be judged. Even as I write this post, I’m pretty sure people will talk about this behind my back, but I’ve learned to stop caring about it all…
Now, this was my story, but have you ever noticed that anxiety can easily be misinterpreted?
It is okay to confuse anxiety with nervousness and stress; we all do it anyway in situations where we feel like we’re being put in the spotlight. These moments often make us feel uncomfortable. However, such feelings often go away once the event is over. Anxiety, on the other hand, focuses on more detail, so it affects the way we lead our lives even when there is nothing about to happen.
Sifting through social media and unverified sources has caused people to self-diagnose themselves which is the main factor contributing to the misinterpretation of anxiety. Such social media content oversimplifies and merges various conditions, making it easier to attach and link specific symptoms to certain conditions. As a result, many people think that their feelings are caused by “anxiety” while in reality they are just a side effect of casual stress or overthinking, or something else entirely.
Absorbing anxiety-infused language and behavior can easily occur without the conscious effort to do so, and this is especially true for people who have friends or family members who go through anxiety. Commonly used phrases such as “I am so anxious” or “this is so anxiety-inducing” are stretched and used during casual conversation and on social media, regardless of the context; this leads to the devaluation of experiencing actual anxiety. There surely is a distinguishing feature between the use of the term ‘anxiety’ as a label for an emotion and an actual encounter with anxiety.
Yes, a lot of you will get offended after reading this whole post, but man, it’s hard for people with anxiety to cope with it already, if people treat it as a joke, it doesn’t make their situation a whole lot better! We need to keep in mind that anxiety is a real condition and there is professional help available to treat it.
While one can make the misinterpretation of misunderstanding anxiety as an unwanted development, that is only the tip of the iceberg effect of such a misconstruction, as it would form roadblocks that prevent someone from addressing the true source of their feelings or struggles. However, it is important to adopt a careful strategy with respect to mental health.
Wanna know how to keep anxiety in check?
- When you feel like you’re getting anxious over something, get up from where you’re sitting or standing and walk around. If that’s not possible, take deep, long breaths, counting to 8 and then back to 0.
- When you’re fully aware that you are having an anxiety attack, press your hands and knees together (really tight); that should help you stop shaking and calm you down.
- Here’s a breathing exercise: inhale for 8 seconds, hold for 6, and then exhale for 7 seconds.
I have no idea who this might help, but to those few who struggle with anxiety alone, you’re doing wonders, and you’re absolutely awesome!! It took me more than two years to open up about this, so yes, if you see me being all hyped up the following week, don’t mind me 🙂 ~pearl
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