What Does Anxiety Feel Like?

The way I think of anxiety is an unhelpful friend. The friend who tells you they're just trying to help you, but nobody likes you. And they're just trying to help you by thinking of all the awful things that could happen. And they're a friend that doesn't go away.

Anxiety Is a Friend Who Knows No Boundaries

They have no boundaries they have no sense of whether they're welcome or not – which they're not. They'll tell you things over and over again until you start to believe them.

For example, for some people, this anxiety will tell them that everyone hates them and that they're a terrible person and that everyone's laughing at them when they enter a room.

For other people, this anxiety will tell them that something awful is going to happen if they leave the house or that something terrible is going to happen to the people they love.

Anxiety Has Physical Feelings

Anxiety has physical feelings as well, so it's not just how it feels in your head. Your chest can feel tight, your stomach can feel like it's being tied in knots, your hands can get sweaty and clammy, and your heart can race.

Anxiety can make you feel physically sick. When you're so worried about something that it can make you feel very, very nauseous.

I sometimes feel that anxiety makes me feel trapped like there's no way out of the way I'm feeling and that I'm stuck in this kind of bubble of anxiety.

It Can Also Make You Feel Very Alone, Scared and Sad

If you understand that what you're feeling is quite irrational and that you're anxious about things that other people don't quite understand. It can be isolating.

You can feel stupid and silly, and you can also feel very, very alone.

Anxiety can feel scary, as well. Especially if you don't understand how to control the patterns that your brain is going through. It can feel really scary not to have control of that.

Anxiety can feel sad. It can make you feel sad, and it can make you believe you're worthless or there's something wrong with you.

So, that's what anxiety feels like to me. It feels completely unwelcome and unhelpful. It feels tight, and squashy and makes me feel like there's no escape. Of course, anxiety can be entirely different for different people.