Anxiety

 Before I start this post, I want to link two videos. They are both 'Zoella' videos in which she talks about anxiety in general and her own anxiety. I want to do this because I want you to know that I am in no way an expert on anxiety, and although Zoella isn't an expert either, she knows more about it than I do.

Dealing With Panic Attacks And Anxiety: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-iNOFD27G4
Anxiety Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjuk3WMZByo

I have anxiety. I don't know if what I have is an anxiety disorder or just 'normal' anxiety, but it has always been a normal part of my life, and I've never really spoken to anyone in depth about it.

From a young age, being in certain social situations has literally filled me with dread and to this day, this has never really changed. The older I get, the harder it becomes because I'm much more aware of it. For example, I may not have liked going to big parties when I was 10, but now I'm old enough to imagine everything that could go wrong and overthink everything that happens in my life.

Apparently 1 in 6 'young people' will experience some form of an anxiety condition at some point in their lives, but there's a difference between people who have anxiety, and people who have an anxiety disorder.

It is 100% normal for everyone to have anxiety now and then, but this is less serious than having an anxiety disorder. According to http://psychcentral.com/, some of the key differences between normal worry and a general anxiety disorder are:

Normal Worry: Worrying does not interfere with your job or social life.
GAD: Worrying significantly interferes with your work or social activities.
Normal Worry: You feel that your concerns are controllable and can be dealt with at a later time.
GAD: You feel that your worrying is out of your control.
Normal Worry: Your worries cause only mild distress.
GAD: Your worries are very distressing and pervasive.

The key reason that I wanted to address anxiety in this post was because I created a thread on 'The Hopeful Forum', and many people, including myself, suffer with anxiety without knowing if we are just normally anxious or if we have an anxiety disorder, and that's not a question that I can specifically answer, as all cases are completely different.

Dealing With Anxiety

Again, I am completely no expert in the theme of anxiety, but because I personally suffer from anxiety, I have a few tips about how to deal with your anxiety.

My first is a website/app that many YouTubers talk about, called Calm.com
I have the app, which basically allows you to choose a section (I generally choose calm as you have to pay for anxiety specifically) a period of time (from 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 120 minutes, 25 minutes and 30 minutes), it then guides you through calming yourself whilst playing relaxing music. The only problem with this is that, personally, it only keeps me calm for a short period of time, and it would be hard to do this while in a situation that makes me feel anxious.

My second tip is distraction. For example, if you get anxious around a lot of people, and you are at a party, look around you and think about other things to distract you. Like something you're looking forward to in the next few weeks, or imagine that you're somewhere completely different.

My third tip is acting. This especially works for me if I have to give a presentation or talk. My mum always says to me that the only person who knows that you're anxious is you. If you pretend that you're completely confident, even if it's just for 5 minutes, you'll fool the people around you.

My fourth tip is something that I should really take up myself, talking to someone about it. It doesn't have to be a parent or teacher. If you have a group of friends, you're probably not going to be the only person with some anxiety problems. Talking to someone else who has experienced the same things that you have might help you to understand what you're feeling. And if you feel that you can't talk to your friends, turn to the internet. There are so many people on the internet who are willing to talk about their problems. For a start, you can read some stories from my thread on The Hopeful Forum: http://hopefulforum.com/thread/9394/anxiety?page=1&scrollTo=169383 and there are many anxiety forums on the internet. Even if you didn't want to share your own story, read other people's stories, because it could help you to put your own feelings into perspective.

One of the biggest things that I believe causes my anxiety is that I care way too much about how I look to people, how people see me and what people think of me, especially the people in my college. This stems from the fact that I have been around the same people since I began secondary school, so many years ago! So my final tip is to reinvent yourself, using tip number 3. If you happen to move house, or to go to a new school, or to make the transition from school to college, or from college to university, embrace this. Forget who you were and forget the people that made you feel anxious. Take risks and meet new people. Of course, this isn't going to stop your anxiety, but if your anxiety is centred around a certain place or time, try your best to do something new. You may find that, once you're out of the situation, you're not as anxious as you once were.

Thank you for reading. I hope this post has helped you in some way with your anxiety, or has opened your mind to the fact the people close to you could have anxiety problems that they refuse to talk about.

Comment below your anxiety issues and stories, to show everyone how normal it is to be dealing with anxiety!