A Day in the Life of Anxiety
- Leah Cox
- Nov 25, 2020
- 2 min read
Disclaimer
This is just a quick disclaimer before we get into it. Everyone’s anxiety is different so my experiences may differ from someone else's. This does not mean that your anxiety is invalid, it just works differently. If you need any help, I will link a few anxiety resources below that have helped or been recommended to me.
When the Sun Comes Up
When I wake up with anxiety, the first things I notice are the physical features. This normally includes a tingling feeling in my chest, numbness in my feet and arms and an increase in my heart rate. It is quite startling to wake up like this, especially when you have not experienced it before. Luckily for me, I can combat the physical sides of my anxiety by telling myself I am just feeling anxious and so I don’t start worrying about my health. Additionally, to the physicality of anxiety, there is of course the mental attributes. For me this is my thoughts going at what feels like one hundred miles an hour. It is the constant worry that the day will not go well because I feel rubbish. I get over this by getting straight out of bed, making my bed, getting ready for the day and having breakfast. This already relieves my mind of stress.
Throughout the Day
Normally, during the day the physical side of things are a bit calmer. However, they can increase if I am having a particularly bad day. This means that I am constantly on edge, and it makes me paranoid and agitated. If I am not busy then I will just get completely stressed that I should be doing something. To prevent myself from getting into this state I will do some form of exercise, and schedule everything I am doing that day, including things such as ‘get drunk’ or ‘have a bath’. This means that I am not getting stressed about the day and I have not set myself up to do too much. It is really important to keep busy if you are feeling anxious as a form of distraction, but you should make sure you are looking after yourself and not doing too many things at once.
When the Sun Goes Down
If I have had a particularly bad day, I will go to bed very tired and a bit shaky. Sometimes I will do a bit of yoga or meditation to calm my body and mind down so I can have a good sleep. In the past, when I was really bad, I hardly slept which was a huge contributor to me being more anxious the next day. I will try and be off my phone half an hour before I go to sleep so I can get into the right frame of mind. Just before I doze off, I will write down all my thoughts of the day, bad and good. This just helps me get everything out of my mind, so I am at ease when I am going to sleep.
Resources
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