An Anxious Girl In A Scary World

In the past few days I have seen articles and photos circulating Facebook about what it's like living with depression and anxiety. Every time I see one I do a little mental cartwheel because it's so great to someone advocating for us. Yet, it also saddens me that people have to go to such great lengths just to get recognition for our illness because people don't think of that way.  Over 40 million people in the U.S suffer from anxiety and that number is only going to rise with the demands and expectations that society places on us young adults and teens.  Anxiety and depression have no bias. It doesn't matter if you are 16, 21, 40. Anxiety  is not like some virus that can be cured with antibiotics and a few sick days. It takes time, therapy, and medication. And even then, it doesn't go away. It's always with you, you just get better at managing it.  To those of you out there fighting the good fight, I support you. Together, we can change the world. Wit...

Morning my sunshines!  Today is going to be a long day for me! I have a lot going on at work today because we are getting ready for the HOLIDAYS!  This is kind of a stressful time for me because when things get hectic I get overwhelmed really quickly and I'll start to worry excessively, then panic will set in, and then I'll shut down. (And most likely cry. It's what I do when I become overwhelmed). Now, I'm not even 100% sure if it IS because of the anxiety or if I just don't do well under a lot of pressure. But I'm going to say that it probably falls into the anxiety category only because of the "excessive worrying" part. I overthink everything and I begin to catastrophize and then I assume that I will mess everything up horribly.   My therapist used to ask me, "what's the worst that could happen?" In my head I was thinking, "well, I'd probably die." In reality though, the worst that could happen was that I'd do somethi...

Morning Bloggers! So, yesterday I had a bit of a weird/bad day. I felt like I couldn't do anything right at work. I was frazzled, my mind was thinking of everything else in the word besides work. I had to recount someone's change over and over again because I kept miscounting. I was very little help to customers who had questions because my head wasn't on straight. Then, when the store got busy, it felt like there weren't enough of me to compete with the amount of customers. I felt like an idiot yesterday. I apologized to my assistant manager like 100 times over the silliest things; I bumped into her like 10 times, I stood in her way, I even forgot her name once or twice, and I would forget things she'd say just moments after she'd told me. Ugh! On days like those, when it feels like you just aren't there or you make silly mistakes, you start to tell yourself things like, "I'm such an idiot", "I can't do anything", and "I f...

Hey Guys! Just wanted to let you know that I created a new page, "Did You Know?" Find out which celebrity you share a common anxiety disorder with! Learn some new and interesting facts you might not have known before! *Just click the link on the left hand side of the blog* With Love & Support, Anxiety Girl - xoxo

Morning everyone! This morning I thought I would share some techniques with you that I learned while I was going to therapy. I learned about "Mental Mistakes". Mental mistakes are the negative things you tell yourself about an uncomfortable situation that actually hinder you from moving past the issue. They are also known as the "Automatic Thoughts". A lot of times, the mental mistakes that one makes has to do with ones self-esteem. Because a majority of us with Anxiety suffer from a low self-esteem, it makes it that much harder to stay clear minded because we begin to believe the things we are telling our selves. Some of the most common Automatic Thoughts I use are: Catastrophizing: telling yourself that something is SO horrible and we are to feeble to cope Assuming: assuming the worst without testing the evidence Labeling: giving yourself a label as if it describes a person completely Dwelling On The Negative: focusing on the negative aspects (of a situa...

I was very successful at the gym today! Hooray! I got pretty lucky though because there were only a handful of people there. I was able to focus more on myself rather than focusing on all the activity going on around me.  I DID have to remind myself that no one really is paying any attention to me and that I didn't have to worry.  One thing that definitely helped me relax was having my music on. I picked an album that I knew was going to pump me up and drown out the noise of the other gym-goers!  If any of you are thinking of going to the gym, keep that in mind! Hopefully that'll help you too!  Me: 1  Anxiety: 0 Thanks for listening bloggers! Stay tuned for more advice and helpful tips.  With Love & Support, Anxiety Girl - xoxo 

Good Afternoon!  So this morning as I was having my morning coffee, I got to thinking.  My boyfriend and I have been together for 5 years and he has seen me at my worst and at my best. He has seen what my anxiety does to me and how emotionally handicapped I had been. He tells me "I understand, baby," or "I know how you feel," but in reality, he doesn't REALLY understand or REALLY know how I feel.  It's hard to make someone understand what it's like living with anxiety and you can try to explain it to someone till you are blue in the face and they still won't fully understand. There is no simple way to explain it.  Yesterday was supposed to be gym day # 3 but it didn't work out and I never went. But today I am getting ready to go. As we speak actually. My nerves are sky rocketing! My hands are clammy and heart is racing! I'm pretty much psyching myself out.  My friend, who I go with, just tells me to relax and that I'll be fine but I don...