Why I am anxious?

What is anxiety?

It is normal to feel anxious, nervous and worried in certain situations. These feelings are our bodies natural reactions on dangerous, unpleasant situations, when we feel that we are under threat. The feelings usually pass when the situation is over. For some people these feelings are constant, overwhelming and affect their normal life. They could be feeling constantly anxious. And anxiety about anxiety makes it feel even worse.

Although anxiety originates in our mind, it has many physical symptoms, some of them very strong. You may have all physical symptoms even when the fearful or worried thoughts are not present.

It can feel really scary as you think you are not able to control what is happening in your body. Your heart is racing, you have difficulties to breathe, your feel dizzy, your stomach is churning..

Some may not recognize their anxiety and/or have learned to mask, quieten their anxiety by excessive drinking or even comfort eating.

As scary as it may feel at the time, understanding the roots of anxiety and learning to relate to sensations in new ways can help us to cope better with anxiety. As a start, it is about normalizing those bodily reactions which feel so scary.

Why some of us feel more anxious than others?

Anxiety is not just in your mind. Some possible factors which can trigger and contribute towards anxiety are poor eating habits, compromised physical health, stressful situations at work or home and adverse childhood experiences. Tendency to feel anxious can be genetic, but also behavior you have learned.

Everyone is different and it is normally a combination of factors which can lead to an anxiety disorder.

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition. But you do not have to live with anxiety and fear.

Talking about your anxiety with your family and friends is a good start. Checking your eating and drinking habits, introducing gentle outdoors exercise and even learning some mindfulness techniques, will all help.

In case you like to have some professional counselling/therapy to get you started, you can contact me on annikagilescounselling@gmail.com or via my website: www.attentivecounselling.co.uk

Resources which you may find useful:

Steve Haines (2018) : Anxiety is really strange

Mind: Anxiety and panic attacks :

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/anxiety-and-panic-attacks/about-anxiety/