| It will get better. |
Sometimes it does seem like it won't, because that's the thing with anxiety; it's a 'nothing disease'. The symptoms of it mean that you ignore it because you don't want to feel worthless, which is essentially how anxiety makes you feel anyway. It's a paradox, but not an inescapable one. Anxiety isn't ever really spontaneous. You don't wake up one day and realise you're suffering from it. It builds up over a long time, like tar on the lungs, and it's usually caused by repeated erosion of your confidence. But confidence is a strange thing. You can have bucketloads one day, and none the next, for no discernable reason.
Anxiety isn't really a feeling. We all feel anxious, but we don't all have anxiety. Anxiety sufferers have low self-esteem. It's also known as 'social phobia'. Some sufferers can't go into shops, some can't even go out in public. I have an irrational fear of post offices and phone calls. Yes, it's laughable, but it's irrational. People laugh at anxiety sufferers because they're seen as wimps who cry and chicken out of everything. That's not what it is. People have asked me why I act like it's a big deal when I manage to walk past a dog in the street. To me, that's a huge milestone. That's not anxiety related, but my cynophobia produces a similar feeling to my anxiety (panic attacks, irrational crying), and when I manage to beat it, it's like beating a part of me that's not really there. Just as cancer sufferers have to fight a part of their body that's not really them, mentally ill people have to fight a part of themselves that's hiding within their consciousness. It's hard, and people do underestimate that.
BUT
it's not impossible. Yes, 80% of people relapse with a mental illness, but 20% don't, and of the 80% that do, most of them are cured again.
For the sufferers:
Give therapy a chance.
You are worth it.
You are human and there's nothing to be afraid of in admitting that you don't want to be beaten.
For the others:
Don't laugh at someone else's misfortune; a large proportion of people will suffer from mental health issues at one point in their life.
Don't laugh at someone's phobia. One of my friends finds it hilarious that I'm terrified of dogs and post offices. I find it hilarious that she thinks she's better at writing than me. We all have our weaknesses, but we all have our strengths.
Take the time to understand. We are all equal, but we are all different. Don't think that that's a bad thing.Labels: anxiety, friends, me |
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Name: AnwenKya
Home: Cardiff
About Me: I am a 5ft blonde teenager with an overactive imagination, bad temper and terrifying sense of humour. Hear me roar!
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background by tayler
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posted by AnwenKya at 