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In modern times, a majority of folks suffer from anxiety. A more disturbing thought is that a large section of the populace is unaware of how paralyzing it can be. So before you judge another person as snobbish or uptight, consider some of the ways in which anxiety can cripple people:
Anxiety is usually unnoticeable. The individual attempts to keep it to himself in an attempt to not cause a commotion in public. It is quiet on the outside but inside our thoughts, it is a deafening, unending sound. Most of the time, it doesn’t stop. The volume just lowers to the extent that we get out of it for a while, but like a predator waiting to strike its prey, it can bring up the volume again…at any moment.
A more disturbing thought is that a large section of the populace is unaware of how paralyzing it can be.
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Anxiety is your thoughts telling you that you cannot trust the universe. It is the inability to fully experience a joyous moment because of the constant fear that things will somehow fall apart once you let your guard down. Anxiety is using unrealistic logic and expectations to scrutinize your actions in such a detailed way that you find enough to feel guilty about.
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Anxiety is not shyness. Shyness is choosing to be silent to avoid stating what’s on your mind. Anxiety is wanting to express your thoughts but being forced to always second guess whether you should or not. It is a traumatizing fear of being embarrassed or ignored.
Anxiety convinces you to ignore anything that takes some amount of time and dedication to accomplish, because somewhere down the road, you have this notion that you will mess up badly, that every effort you make would’ve been for nothing. It makes you question your capabilities on a daily basis and makes you think that everybody is just waiting to broadcast your failures to the world.
Anxiety is replaying a distressing event over and over again in your head until you’ve paralyzed yourself with all of its details. So when anything remotely similar to the workings of the event comes up, the amount of panic and noise in your head becomes unbearable.
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Anxiety is feeling completely at fault when prioritizing yourself. It is the undeserving feeling of guilt you get when you treat yourself. It is assuming—unrealistically—that the universe will avenge your need to walk a path that’s different from others.
It’s the constant bothersome feeling that everything will fall apart because you’re simply incapable of surviving anything outside your comfort zone.
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Anxiety is having thoughts of constant failure and doubt when being introduced to anything new, whether it’s a new project, a new environment or something that’s remotely different from what you’ve grown accustomed to. It’s the constant bothersome feeling that everything will fall apart because you’re simply incapable of surviving anything outside your comfort zone.
Anxiety is the voice in your head that tells you that you’re acting like an asshole even though you really aren’t, and that everyone else thinks you’re an asshole even though they probably don’t. So, as a defense mechanism, you end up acting like an asshole because you feel constantly judged even though that really isn’t the case.
Anxiety is knowing that things are and will be all right, but being incapable of accepting that notion.
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Photo: Wikimedia