Are you feeling overwhelmed by anxiety? It’s not normal, and there is help.
It’s normal to feel some anxiety. It’s the body’s natural response to fear, worry, and stress. Whether it’s before giving a speech, a job interview, an exam, or during a challenging life situation, anxiety helps you be on the alert so you can perform at your highest level. To some people, however, it can be so much more.
What Is Anxiety Disorder?
Anxiety can be crippling to someone who experiences those feelings differently than the average person. What differentiates anxiety disorder is persistence and pervasiveness. If the feelings last more than six months, it could be an anxiety disorder. This is especially true if it’s interfering with your life and making it more difficult to function in your daily activities. The disorder can also bring feelings of fear that seem to follow you through your day. It can alter the way you live, how you feel, and can even be debilitating.
How Does Anxiety Affect Your Life?
Anxiety disorder can impact a few, many, or even every aspect of your life. It can keep you from being social and joining in with friends and family, prevent you from being effective in your job and career, can keep you from doing things that others do without thinking such as flying in a plane, riding in a car or bus, or even entering elevators. It can take a toll on your productivity, your feelings of value and worth, and on your relationships. It can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, loss of motivation or ambition, depression, self-injury, and even suicidal thoughts.
Sign and Symptoms of Anxiety
- Excessive worrying without a feeling of control over the worry
- Intense feelings of agitation
- Feeling nervous, restless, or tense more often than not
- Irrational fears
- A sense of impending doom or danger, the feeling that something bad is going to happen to you, up to and including panic attacks
- Trouble concentrating
- Intense and unrelenting focus on the present thing that’s worrying you
- Difficulty sleeping
- Feeling weak, tired, and fatigued
- Increased heart rate
- Sweating and trembling
- Irritability
- Inability to function in social settings and avoiding social situations
- Trouble completing daily tasks
What Does Anxiety Disorder Feel Like?
Normal levels of anxiety can often be unpleasant. Anxiety disorder takes those feelings and multiplies them exponentially. Not only that, anxiety can be brought on by typically benign, normal, everyday life events. Anxiety disorder can often be identified when these feelings are hugely out of proportion to the triggering events. Here are some of the most common symptoms
What You Can Do
There is no shame in admitting you might be experiencing symptoms related to anxiety disorder. In fact, it is one of the most commonly diagnosed emotional disorders. If you have anxious feelings that have persisted for more than six months and that interfere with your daily activities and your quality of life, it’s time to get the support you need.
The counselors at New Life 360 can work with you to determine triggers, understand underlying issues, and give you the tools you need to manage your feelings of anxiety,
work through them, and live a more peaceful, engaged life.