Unsettled: The Honest Truth About Anxiety
Everybody in the world has felt anxiety at some point or other throughout the course of their lives. Maybe it was before a big test, a first date, or when they knew they were about to get in trouble. In these moments, stress takes over, affecting the physical feeling of your body. Maybe you’ll get a headache, most will get a stomach ache, but in these circumstances it’s sure to go away once the situation inducing the anxiety is over.
For most these moments and feelings are fleeting. In fact, for nearly 82% of the population of the U.S., anxiety is something that only rears its head when they are about to experience something that frightens them. These feelings last maybe a few hours or at most, a few days, but the source is most often known and understood. For the remaining population, the story is different.
Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States and for those who are living through it, the symptoms and side effects are much, much worse than a couple of hours of a stomach ache.
The honest truth about living with anxiety is that it’s like teetering on the edge of a giant invisible cliff. You feel like you’re standing a million miles above a rocky shore line, where the waves are sure to pull you under for good. It’s the feeling of a racing heart and sweaty palms as if you’re about to give an award show acceptance speech in front of thousands…except, in reality you’re just standing in the produce aisle of your local grocery store. It’s the tingling in your fingertips and the spots in your vision when your body decides that the uncertainty is too much for it to handle. Fight or flight mode is constantly activated, as if you’re caught in the middle of a major action movie.
“Stop worrying,” is such a simple and yet, entirely unhelpful solution that many will give to you. What they don’t realize is that anxiety doesn’t only attack when you’re worrying. Anxiety is a master of stealth, waiting for a moment to creep in and remind you that you are not in control. It’s the feeling of uncertainty about the answer to a question you never asked. Anxiety doesn’t need to wait for something big and important to show up on your doorstep and cause you stress.
It lets itself in without you even knowing, to leave you feeling unsettled.
In addition to the “stop worrying” and “just relax”-ers, there will also be plenty of people who tell you that in order to stop feeling anxious you need to drink some herbal tea, practice mindfulness, or create a solid exercise routine. Sure, these things will all help you feel more grounded and they might not make you feel any more anxious. A daily walk and a decrease in your caffeine intake will give you the fading feeling of control, until the next flare up of fear and frustration.
Now, I wish I could wrap this up with a surefire solution to completely eradicating anxiety from your life, but the truth is, I haven’t found one yet and I’m not sure that there is a one-size-fits-all solution to this issue. There are medications you can take and therapists that will teach you ways to cope, but there is no permanent off-switch.
There will be things that will help when these moments, hours, and days where anxiety arrives. Sometimes it will stick around for weeks and infiltrate every sacred aspect of your life. However, I’m beginning to learn that it won’t stick around forever — even when it seems like it will. Eventually, it will realize that it has no place in your home anymore, and it will let itself out, despite how disruptive it is while it’s there.