Jul
Articles, Health & Mental Wellness
All About Anxiety
All About Anxiety
Every single one of us knows the feeling of fearing the future and dwelling in the past. It’s been the human condition for a long time, and if we don’t keep those thoughts in check they can end up consuming our lives.
Anxiety is defined as “a mental health disorder characterised by feelings of worry or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one’s daily activities.” It’s a spectrum – anxiety ranges from a diagnosable disorder to an occasional affliction. No matter how it manifests, there’s not a single person who hasn’t experienced it to some degree.
Anxiety is particularly common in our 20s. It’s a time of transformation and uncertainty, where we move from a comfortable structure that’s been set out for us our whole lives into the vast and unfamiliar territory of adulthood. We now have to create our own structure and forge our life paths, which can be a lot of pressure. This constant fear of the future and feeling of worry around where we’ll end up and what’s wrong in our lives can persist for a long while and is often hard to deal with.
Our culture pushes a narrative of onwards and upwards. It’s easy to feel like we’re only valuable if we’re the perfect girlboss, succeeding in our careers as well as having a full social calendar all the time. This pressure, which is exacerbated by social media, can leave us with no time for self care and can even affect our sleeping patterns. This will inevitably result in an anxious disposition.
Taking time for yourself as well as getting a solid 7-9 hours of sleep per night is essential in managing anxiety. You need to take a moment to step away from your obsessive thoughts or it may get to a point that they will consume you. When we constantly focus on what has or will go wrong, there’s no time to appreciate the beauty of the present!
We live in an era where it’s hard to escape the pressure to be “perfect”, and one where we’re encouraged not to display our anxieties and emotions for fear of not seeming “put together”. Advertising convinces us that we need to buy some or other product to get to where we want to be, and social media tells us that we’re not good enough if we’re not looking like and living that life of edited Instagram models. Whether you’re concerned about your career, your social life, hitting milestones by a certain age or your self image, know that it’s all perfectly normal. You’re not alone in your anxieties, and you shouldn’t be afraid to express them! Bottling it all up will only serve to make it worse.
You are incredible and you’re exactly where you should be right now. If you feel that anxiety is taking over your life, talk to your doctor to see what options you have.
For more mental health resources visit https://www.opencounseling.com/hotlines-za.
rubies let us know in the comments below if any of you have been struggling with anxiety? We are all in this together!
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I suffered from anxiety because of the things that have been happening where I stay recently and it was very bad. I used to jump every time I heard movement outside or when someone in the house was being loud. Sadly I didn’t see any professional about it.
What a great & interesting article, thank you rubybox❤️
My anxiety is about this Unrest and looting that is happening in our country, I’m thinking about our economy and the spreading of Delta Corona virus. The level of unemployment is going up again and even worse, now some of our family member will loose their jobs and we have to help those who are in need that means we have to cut our budget to help others.
The price of food is going to rise, it’s going to be difficult to live soft life. We as South Africans we must learn from what happened in Zimbabweans economy, if we carry on like this we going to end up just like them
Very good read 😊
I have anxiety and it seems I have always had it. As a teenager I had anxiety but I never knew I had it therefore it was actually easier to control for some reason. But in the last few years I have had anxiety attacks and spoke to a doctor about them and was told I have it. My attacks got worse when the pandemic started (it was pretty bad before that). Then I lost my job and have been jobless for a year now so it’s really bad at the moment. Eating properly obviously helps with anxiety but it doesn’t help when you don’t eat for 3 nights in a row because you can’t afford food🙄 I am still very blessed though to have my 2 fur babies that actually are able to tell me when I am about to have an attack because they come lay on by me and just really support me ❤️ I have been on antidepressants but recently just come off of them because I can no longer afford them 😔 but I think a good mindset helps along with a good diet and exercise so I am trying these well when I can 😁 anxiety is just a feeling and we all have control of our bodies 🌺🌷🌺 just remember when you have anxiety attacks change your mind of thought because what ever you are thinking of in that moment is bring the attack on slow your breathing down slightly and lay with your feet above your head and drink water it helps ❤️🌺🌷🌺
I just turned 22 and the anxiety is unreal 😵. No matter where I am or what I’m doing , it’s always there 😪.
I beg to differ on the age stated “from 20’s”.
My anxiety started as young as 12 due to losing my entire family to a Murder-Suicide. It got so bad, at this age I still struggle with anxiety attacks when overwhelmed. Along with it is your stigmas. Not everyone understands us.Its good to talk about it. Thank you for doing a write up on this, as not everyone takes anxiety seriously.
Love this article I’m interested
This is just overwhelming because I have always struggled with Anxiety,it creeps on me every chance it gets when it’s triggered .Now with everything that Is happenings around the world ,it will make you feel like giving up on everything because things won’t ever be the same again ,thank you so much for this article ❤️I must seek professional help.
Exactly what I am going through right now. Being unemployed in this pandemic ,having fees to pay. I only sleep for few hours. Sometimes I feel like I am running out of time. I am not reaching my goals on time but some other days are better than others with the hope of accepting and being patient with myself.
Thank you so much @rubybox for highlighting this matter …a lot of us have experienced anxiety one way or the other and we tend to classify ourselves as people who do not experience such and truth is with everything going on right now in our country our mental health is so important, eating healthy and getting enough rest is very vital…thank you so much