I get questions all the time from people asking things like – ‘Is it normal to feel anxious all the time?’ I suffered with generalised anxiety disorder for the best part of my life.
I won’t get into how I got over it in the end here but feel free to look around my site to learn about my story. I’ll also recommend a good starting point to recovery at the end of this article.
If you feel anxious all the time, it’s likely that you have generalised anxiety disorder like I did. I’m no doctor but I can give you solid advise based on my years of struggling. What I do want to let you know first is, you’re not alone.
I was always feeling anxious all the time for no reason and this lead me down a very dark path. I felt this way from a very young age and so I didn’t even know what the way I felt was called until I was older.
The short answer to ‘is it normal to feel anxious all the time?’ is no. It’s not ‘normal’ to feel anxious all the time. Anxiety occurs when we’re nervous about an event or an occasion or situation. For example, you might be anxious about a test you have coming up.
The issue occurs when you feel this way permanently and start attaching anxiety to everyday situations that most people wouldn’t think twice about.
Feeling Anxious All The Time Is Not ‘Normal’
Personally, I knew the way I felt wasn’t normal because I could see others around me not working themselves up over silly little things. This of course caused me to go into myself and feel even more anxious.
The most likely reason you feel overly anxious all the time is you may have generalised anxiety disorder or GAD. To be sure, make sure you speak with your doctor. Like I always say, I’m no medical expert but I do have extensive experience in this area.
Feeling anxious all the time isn’t normal and it shouldn’t be something that you put up with. I put up with it for a long time and it slowly wore me down. The biggest danger of feeling anxious all the time is when it leads into severe depression.
I ended up becoming depressed because everyday situations made me feel uncontrollably anxious and nervous. I worried about everything, from going out the front door in-front of people, to getting on a train or bus.
I wasn’t sure what was making me feel anxious all the time but I knew it had something to do with my lifestyle, and also genetics. I knew the science behind it after doing my own research but I wasn’t sure how changing my outlook and lifestyle would or could help me start to recover.
What Is Making You Feel Anxious All The Time?
I want to share with you the things that caused me to feel anxious all the time so hopefully you’ll be able to relate and see that how you’re feeling is normal for people who suffer with generalised anxiety disorder.
- Going out in public
- Using public transport
- Going to school
- Talking to large groups of people
- Being put on the spot
- Going to work
- Feeling like I wasn’t good enough
- Feeling like I was failing myself and dreams
- Worrying about having a relationship
- Worry what people thought of me
The list can go on however these are the things that caused me the most distress and anxiety. When I felt anxious all the time I would go from one negative thought and worry to the next. I would mull these things over in my head for days without coming to any satisfying conclusion that would give me peace of mind.
They stuck in my mind like glue and I found it hard to concentrate on anything through the noise in my head.
These are things that a lot of people worry about and get themselves worked up about. For someone with GAD, they become worse than they are.
It was the hardest experience I’d ever had and because this had been going on in my head for nearly 20 years, I couldn’t imagine not being that way. If you’re having these worries then although they might not bee deemed as being conventionally ‘normal’, they are things that millions also worry about.
For example;
- Feeling like you’re not good enough.
This is a very common thing that people feel. People with GAD feel anxious about his all the time because it effects everything they do. Someone without GAD might feel this way about themselves in relation to a relationship but might think they’re the boss at other things.
Someone with GAD feels this way about everything. Relationships, being a parent, an employee, a friend.
So, if this is you, I want you to know from my own journey – this doesn’t have to be the way your life is lived. You can get over this feeling of constant anxiety. You can break out of these negative thought patterns and move forward with your life.
It’s Easier Said Than Done But You CAN Move Forward
What I want you to take away is the fact that you can become ‘constantly anxiety free’. I use the word ‘constantly’ because you’ll never not be completely anxious and I don’t think you should aim to be. Anxiety is a perfectly normal bodily response. It’s there to let us know of danger. It’s only a problem when it starts being persistent.
Accepting that anxiety is a normal feeling is the first part of overcoming your anxiety. When we stop trying to fight it, things become clearer and we can start to recover.
If you’re feeling anxious all the time it’s likely you have generalised anxiety disorder and so you should go and see your doctor to get it confirmed or dismissed as being the reason you are constantly anxious.
I get it – it doesn’t seem like it now, but you can get better. Whether you’ve started to feel this way about everything recently or you’ve lived your whole life this way like me, there are techniques you can use right now to start easing the pressure from your mind.
I invite you to look at Sean Cooper’s program which is designed for those with constant anxiety and shyness. It has been a very good starting point for many. You can find it here and don’t forget to read Sean’s useful articles too.
I’m here for you as always, let me know in the comments if you have or you still do feel anxious all the time.
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This post was previously published on ProjectEnergise.com and is republished here with permission from the author.
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Talk to you soon.
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