First of all, I know everyone gets anxious at some points and time in their life. Anxiety in and of itself is apart of the human experience. But the kind of anxiety that is so chronic that a doctor has told you to take medication for, or the kind that is so bad that it prevents you from living your best, most fulfilled life, sucks big time. For those who have never experienced it, and for those who are living it, here are 5 ways that anxiety sucks. See if you agree. 

1. Prevents You: Anxiety makes you feel like you cannot do things that others think is no big deal to do. Like going to the mall, or supermarket, for instance. Anxiety might make you sit in the car for an extra 20 minutes trying gain the courage to walk into a busy supermarket; or anxiety might keep you lying on the couch crippled with fear thinking about going to the car and driving to the parking to sit and worry about the anxiety that will prevent you from going into the mall. Anxiety actually convinces you that it cannot be done, or that whatever it is that you are anxious about, is way to petrifying to even make an attempt for it to be done. This is one way in which anxiety sucks.

2. Panic Attacks: Anxiety sometimes disguises itself as a panic attack, which sometimes tricks you into feeling like you are having a heart attack and heart attacks are no joke. If you are truly going through a panic attack that actually feels like you might be having a heart attack, it then makes you feel like you are dying or death is eminent. Who on earth wants to feel like that everyday? No one. But somehow your body and mind go into a convulsive nerve racking episode anyway. One that makes your breathing out of control, your body sweat, your heart beat rapidly and your mind race uncontrollably as you try to make your brain make sense of what is happening to you. This is the second way in which anxiety just sucks.

3. Embarrassing: Like stinky feet, body odor, or a stenchy fart, you never want to be the one that stands out in a crowd for all the wrong reasons. Anxiety makes you feel like you are the one who dealt it. You are the one who stinks in the crowd and everyone is going to know it, everyone will think it, but no one will say anything to you about it. Its embarrassing to have and makes you feel embarrassed around other because you feel different from others. Crowds, even small crowds are uncomfortable because anxiety is like flatulence in a crowded room -anxiety stinks!

4. No Accomodations: Chronic Anxiety becomes an invisible disability that you cannot talk about and that the public never accommodates. If you are in a wheelchair, others understand why you cannot go up a flight of stairs. If you have severe anxiety, it is almost impossible to explain why those stairs cause you pain staking anxiety, or those elevators, or confined spaces, or dirty door knobs, or social events. You realize how crippling this invisible disability is, but no one goes out of their way to accommodate you because it is difficult to help non-chronically anxious folks see why your anxiety is so overpowering that it cripples you. This is yet another way in which anxiety sucks.

5. Feel Weak: Last but not least, anxiety sucks because it makes you feel stupidly confused about why you cannot shake this “normal feeling” that everyone else has, but does not allow to overpower them or rule their lives. Anxiety makes you feel weak and no matter how hard you try, it wakes up with you and seemingly mocks you daily. It lingers behind your ears chipping away at your self confidence, and it lurks behind your back like a back stabbing friend who always lets you down. Anxiety is no friend. Its an unfriendly foe that is apart of your emotional package and psychological make up and it sucks.
Chronic Anxiety is a serious mental illness. If you or someone you know suffers from severe anxiety, I encourage you to get help by contacting your doctor or a mental health service provider in your area.