Lets talk anxiety
Mental health has started to become a much more spoken about subject..thank god. If you’ve feasted your eyes over my previous blog post you’ll know that I suffer from anxiety quite badly, I am on anti depressants and I am currently having therapy sessions. I would say I am quite open about my anxiety, although I know some people aren’t as much and that’s completely ok.
Anxiety can manifest in so many ways, it really sucks. Not going to lie, my mind right now is in some kind of whirlwind, tornado style mode, there is so much I want to say but I could literally go on for days.
Lets start here,
There are two types of anxiety in my opinion, there is just everyday normal anxiety like when we start a new job or meeting someone for the first time or maybe moving house. Then there is generalised anxiety disorder, where each one of those examples I have said happens but the anxiety is about 10 times worse. You can’t sit still, you can’t relax, you can’t focus or you physically just can’t do it. Uncontrollable worrying.
Do some of those things hit home a little bit for you? Do you think yup, that’s me? Maybe you even disagree with my opinions, that’s honestly ok!
After researching, I found that females are more than likely to have anxiety than men. Apparently women believe that worry is useful and helps them to prevent bad things happening in the future and keeps them aware of the warning signs. I legit didn’t know this info. Quite interesting right? Apparently males are also better at distracting themselves from anxiety which I can fully believe. I wish I had that skill.
A funny story (well, I feel like you’d have to be there..) I remember sitting at a temping job one day and someone was having a discussion about anti depressants, I then came out and said oh I’m on those too. This person then started saying about the things she gets really anxious about - quite common ones - leaving the hair straighteners on, locking the door, turning the oven off. I can feel you’re already like YUP THATS ME. I then said to this woman, I worry about the exact same, I even take photos of the straighteners turned off so if I worried about it later in the day I could look back at the photo, its crazy right?! But that moment on that day, we were legit laughing at the crazy things we do to “try” make us feel better. It was a REAL moment, never would I have thought I would be laughing at my anxiety before. But do you know what, knowing other people did the same crazy shit I do made me feel 10x better.
You've probably been waiting for this...
As much as I am a lover of Instagram, it can really cause extra anxiety for some of us. We compare ourselves to others in a way that is just demoralising. Comparing how much money someone has to you, comparing your career to someone else’s, comparing your body type with someone else’s. I really wish there wasn’t this ‘I need to show all of the good parts of my life and not the bad’ vibe going on. It’s time people showed not just the great things that happen in their life, but the things that a lot of other women can relate to. As a PT, I have used my feed to show this as I’m not the perfect human being (I mean who is?) And I would want nothing more than for others to find the courage to do the same.
I would love to hear your thoughts on social media and mental health. How do you feel it impacts you?
I would also really like to hear some stories with your anxiety, any ‘out of the blue’ ones like mine?
Please use the comments below to add your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you
Much love, x
