An Anxious Girl In A Scary World

Living with anxiety is hard and trying to understand why we have it is harder still… but one of the hardest things (to me) is explaining it to someone. The other day I was out with a friend and they asked me why I don’t go out a lot. I had a mini heart attack because I hate that question. I hate being asked why I don’t go out, why I don’t want to go to a club or a bar or to go dancing or anything even similar to those questions. I hate them because sometimes I’m still embarrassed of my answer. I hate having to say “I have anxiety.” So many times I’ve been asked this and when I do say “I have anxiety,” the person just looks at me like “okay…?” But, I told him the truth. I said that I’ve got social anxiety. He looked at me and was like “Damn! I used to have social anxiety too!”   He went on to explain why he had it and while it made me feel a little better but I don’t think I actually fully believed him. It’s just that I’ve heard that a lot and usually it’s nothing like what I...

Every day we are challenged by our anxiety and every day is a chance to overcome it.  Something important to remember is to not let a bad experience deter you from trying something again. There is a lesson in every thing you do even if you don't see it yet.  Each experience we go through gives us the knowledge to be better prepared for the next thing.  This can be applied to pretty much anything.  When something happens to you, whether it be being turned down from a job or having a bad/weird experience from going to a bar or an awkward lunch date, you have to try and see the positive in it.  You have to ask yourself: "what can I do differently to have a more positive experience?" "What can I do differently to ensure that the next job won't turn me away?"  "What did I learn from this experience?"  When you can step back from all the negative thoughts in your mind and only look at the positive, only then can you truly begin to co...