How many of us have felt the gnawing sensation of anxiety in our lives? Most of us are aware of the word “anxiety”. After all, anxiety disorders are the leading mental health issue we face as a species today. But how many of us are actually able to identify the emotion when we experience it and understand what it is trying to tell us?
The way anxiety manifests for every individual differs slightly. For some this can be felt as a chest tightness, throat constriction, and shortness of breath. For others this may be a swirling of thoughts in the mind, leading to dizziness and vision impairment. For you, the sensation of anxiety could be something completely different than the next person might experience.
Identifying the anxious state is step number one, so good on you if you’re already able to do this! The next thing we all want to work on is understanding anxiety for what it is in order to accept it as a deeply human condition, and understand the purpose of anxiety plays in actually assisting our wellbeing.
I know, I know, it sounds outrageous! Anxiety? A good thing? How can this possibly be? Here’s a few things I learned along my mental health journey that helped me to understand the role of anxiety in my life.