Truth About Anxiety!

The Truth about Having Anxiety

Some people don’t understand anxiety and some who have it like I do, would like to know more about it. Here is the truth about it all, how it affects me on a daily basis, and how to help calm attacks.

So I have OCD, and I also have social anxiety, and possibly more but those 2 are the main ones that affect me. I also easily get depressed because of it. Having OCD and social anxiety doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you! Never think that. Just because you have these things, always remember it could be worse, it could be something severe. You CAN live with OCD and anxiety and some people don’t even notice you have it, it’s your own thoughts bothering you! The truth is though, it does bother me on a daily basis, on things I really wish it didn’t. Some nights I want to just cry it all out and ask myself over and over again why I ended up with these. Then I remember eventually after hours of overthinking, it is not my fault! The thing with social anxiety is, I try to talk to people like my older brothers, my sister, my boyfriend’s family is the toughest to me, make new friends, etc. The truth is people end up making fun of me because I’m so quiet and hardly talk. Every time I try to talk to someone, my heart races out of my chest, I get very sweaty and sometimes even blush, and I’m constantly picking at my fingernails… I constantly smile and nod or shake my head. Usually I try to run to the bathroom or to another room away from being social. In big groups it’s much worse, family reunions, boyfriend’s family gatherings, my own family gatherings, I get so nervous that I swear my heart will explode… It’s not an easy fight. People tell you to just breathe but it doesn’t help me at all! With OCD also, you constantly overthink little things, you obsess over the smallest things and you can’t get them out of your head, and then you overthink so much, YOU END UP DEPRESSED! It completely sucks… Sometimes, I can be trying to do something also and someone will stop me from doing it say I’m cleaning or moving something, if it’s not perfect yet and I’m not finished my brain will stress me out about it and give me severe headaches or repeat it in my head until I finish doing that task! It drives me insane sometimes… It takes me longer than average people to do things because I’m constantly trying to perfect it and make it right again. If something doesn’t go right or someone doesn’t do one little thing right, I SNAP ON THEM. It’s a nightmare... It not only affects cleaning, eating, etc., it also affects my love life, family, and talking with friends. I’ve been friends with this girl since I was 1, I can’t even talk to her the same anymore because my social anxiety has taken over me. I can say a couple sentences within 1-2 hours without freaking completely out. I constantly think in my head, I said that wrong, I’ll say that wrong, they’ll laugh at me, etc. I stay up at night until about 2-4 a.m. just overthinking. What can you do to help this? Honestly, I don’t have very much advice on it right now as I’m still trying to figure out the things that help me. If you’re in a room full of people and your anxiety attacks you, take a minute, go to the bathroom and take DEEP breaths, do not force yourself to stay there where your nerves feel like they are literally killing you, it’s going to make It worse, take a second away from the crowd to yourself. Don’t avoid the situation, if you avoid it, of course you think it’s going to help because you won’t have to go or be around a lot of people, but really it only helps in short term. You cannot avoid going to everything and talking to other people, eventually you will have no choice, going to events will help you practice it and get used to it which will help you in the long run. Also, with OCD if you’re feeling like it’s stressing you out or bothering you, go take a hot bath or shower, usually that will help you relax. Also, try to just take a minute to sit down and just not think. Just jam out to some music, watch a YouTube video, etc. If you feel like your anxiety is overwhelming you, it might be time to go to the doctor. I know that’s probably not something you would like to do especially for these things, but it’s something that needs to be done. You’ll feel much better talking to someone about it also.