What does anxiety disorders feels like and how to cope with it?

Anxiety disorder is a mental illness that causes overwhelming anxiety and fear which makes your life miserable. About 1 in 13 people suffer from anxiety disorder worldwide. It's the leading cause of depression and suicide. It is most common in women than in men.

 Living with anxiety is like being followed by a voice. It's like you are trapped by your own thoughts. There's something holding you back from getting too happy. You shouldn't get too happy; better to be cautious, otherwise, something bad might happen. You keep thinking this to yourself. Anxiety knows all your insecurities and uses them against you. 

In every social situation, you get this feeling of panic attack arising in your body. When you are surrounded by lots of people like in a party or in the bus you start to feel nauseous, and uneasy. 

You want to raise your hand but you can't because of fear of being wrong. You started to think, what if I am wrong? what if they think I don't know anything?.

You want to make new friends. You want to hang out with your friends but you can't because of the fear of being judged. You start to think what if they don't like me?, what if they think I am weird?.

You want to have a conversation with someone, talk to someone but you can't. While talking with someone you feel uneasy, your heart starts pounding, your start sweating, your breath becomes heavy, it's like out of body experience.  You feel embarrassed. You start to think if only I have talked to them, if only I have done that, if only I have little confidence in myself, then constantly regretting the things you have done in past and the opportunity you missed; makes you more anxious. To start avoiding that feeling you start to avoid that situation; which makes you feel lonely and isolated. You waste your time making a decision, even a simple decision like which cloth should I wear?, what should I buy? is much harder for you to decide. It's like suffocating but still breathing. 

So, how can you cope with anxiety?

Medication can help you relieve your symptoms but only for a short period, then later it again relapse. 

In-spite of whatever kind of anxiety disorder you might suffer from, there is something you can do to lower it. 

Coping is thoughts and actions to deal with a threatening situation. The way you cope has a direct impact on how much anxiety you experiences. It is simpler than you might think. Some of the common ways you might have used to cope with your anxiety are:- meditation, yoga, exercise, eating a healthy diet, writing down your thoughts, deep breathing exercise, etc.

One of the most important coping methods to decrease your anxiety is to forgive yourself.

A famous poet Mila Bron said;

 In order to heal, you must first forgive... and sometimes the person we must forgive is ourselves.   

 You might regret the chances you didn't make, regret the decision you didn't take because of fear and anxiety. You might feel embarrassed if you have a panic attack on the public. You might waste half of your day washing hands or organizing things due to OCD. But you must learn to forgive yourself first. Let it go, forgive yourself for the mistakes you make, love yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. You cannot learn without making mistakes. 

A famous poet Ellie Holcomb said;

When you make a mistake, respond to yourself in a loving way rather than a self-shaming way.  

You take a longer time to make decisions. You want everything you do to be perfect, every decision you make to be perfect and then you fear and worry too much to take a risk. You worry too much to make a simple decision and then you start to avoid it. You avoid taking a risk. Yes, you might fail badly, do your work badly but at least you tried. And then when you look back you may realize that it's not that bad.

A famous neurologist Dr Victor Frankl once said;

People who think there's nothing to live for and nothing more to expect from life, the question is getting these people to realize that life is still expecting something from you.

 You should have a purpose or aim in your life, it's the way to cope with anxiety. The person who has set their goals in their life have a lesser chance of having anxiety. You might think there's nothing to live for but there's always something you can do. You can bring changes in someone's life, help others, and volunteer in an animal shelter. Doing good deeds is the best way to relieve your anxiety. It makes you feel good about yourself, gives you the purpose for living and helps you to understand the beauty and uniqueness of your life.

A famous poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said;

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.