Understanding Anxiety & Stress
My Personal Experience with Anxiety and Stress
Introduction: What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a mental health disorder that can affect people of any age, background, or personality. It is the most common mental illness in the United States and around the world.
Anxiety disorders are characterized by feelings of nervousness, fearfulness, and worry that continue for at least six months.
They can also cause physical symptoms like fatigue, headaches, muscle tension, and stomach aches. It is important to note that it can also be caused by other factors such as illness, lack of sleep, or even eating too much sugar.
There are five types of anxiety disorders: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder (PD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). GAD is the most common type of anxiety disorder, with a prevalence of two to three percent in the United States.
There are four different types of generalized anxiety disorders:
i. Generalized anxiety disorder, which is characterized by chronic and exaggerated worrying, or tension;
ii. Reaction to severe stress, which occurs when a person is faced with a traumatic event that cannot be avoided;
iii. Excoriation (also known as worry or OCD), which is characterized by persistent thoughts about something that may never occur.
iv. Mixed anxiety and depression is a condition where one has both generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. Typically people with this condition have overactive stress-response systems and a low mood.
What is Stress?
Stress is a natural reaction to an event that causes anxiety or fear. It is a normal response to the demands of life, but it can become excessive and overwhelming.
Stress can manifest as physical tension or pain, sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, feeling out of control, heart palpitations, and much more. With modern life comes the psychological effects of stress. When it becomes too much to handle, we might experience symptoms such as anxiety or depression.
It can also be caused by other factors such as illness, lack of sleep, or even eating too much sugar.
Stress can have both positive and negative effects on our health and well-being. This depends on how we react and what we do about it.
Some people find ways to relieve stress such as exercise or meditation while others turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms like drugs and alcohol. These can make things worse in the long run. Stress can also be a symptom of a mental disorder like anxiety or depression.
What are the Symptoms of Anxiety?
Anxiety symptoms can range from mild to severe, and sometimes they are so bad that they interfere with day-to-day life.
Mild symptoms include feeling tense, restless, or anxious; having difficulty concentrating; feeling irritable; and having trouble sleeping.
Moderate to severe symptoms include heart palpitations, chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness or lightheadedness, nausea, or stomach cramps. Also, frequent urination and diarrhea, excessive sweating (especially at night), trembling hands or legs, panic attacks with extreme fear of dying and/or going crazy (sometimes called an anxiety attack). Some people have also reported obsessions about health issues such as blood pressure or heart problems (sometimes called hypochondria), and/or delusions about being persecuted for one’s beliefs.
The severity of the symptoms will depend on the type of anxiety.
Understanding Your Anxiety And Stress Levels
There are many ways to understand your anxiety level. One way is to take an anxiety level test which will provide you with a score that will tell you how severe your anxiety is. You can try this anxiety test at Mental Health America.
You can also keep track of your stress levels in order to understand how they affect you. This may be done by keeping a journal of what stresses you out and what makes you feel better, or by using an app like Headspace that tracks your stress levels for you based on your activity levels throughout the day. Here is a good stress journal that I will recommend.
Anxiety is not something that should be ignored as it can lead to other mental health conditions such as depression or panic disorder.
When it comes to understanding your anxiety level, there are many ways in which this can be done so it’s important not to feel discouraged if one doesn’t work.
Some of these methods include asking your friends, using a quiz like the one I shared above, or even looking at your environment and noting the things that make you feel anxious. If you don’t feel like dealing with your anxiety by yourself, then seeking professional help is the best decision to make.
It is important that you find a counselor or therapist that you feel comfortable and confident in so they can help educate and manage your anxiety.
Understand Why You Should Care About Your Anxiety & Stress Levels
The more stressed and anxious you are, the more likely you are to experience health problems. Anxiety and stress can lead to heart disease, chronic pain, headaches, digestive problems, and even depression.
It is important to take care of your mental health so that you can live a healthy life. Below are some tips on how you can combat anxiety and stress in your everyday life.
1. Maintaining an effective routine that helps you unwind can help combat feelings of anxiety. Planning out your day and sticking to a certain schedule is important to keep your life on track. Including things like reading or relaxing in the early evening can be very helpful.
2. Trying different antidepressant therapy in order to reduce symptoms of anxiety is something you can consider. There are many different types, including medications and talk therapy, with which you should speak with a professional about what may work best for you.
3. Working on a routine that works for you is one of the most effective, and easiest ways to combat anxiety.
4. Exercise is a great stress reliever, so make sure to incorporate physical activity into your life. Even just taking the stairs instead of an elevator or simply walking in place during commercials can help take your mind off things and make you feel more relaxed. If there are any physical disabilities that create an obstacle to doing this, it may be helpful to talk with your doctor about what other methods of exercise you might be able to do.
Why Understanding Anxiety is Important to Me
Anxiety is not just a mental illness. It is a normal human experience.
The first step to understanding anxiety, for me, was to understand that it is not an excuse that people make when they are unable to do something they were meant to or going to do. I also understood that it is not an illness or disease.
It is a normal human experience.
I know that it’s hard to believe, but the truth is that everyone experiences some form of anxiety at one point or another in their lives. And when we do, all of our other feelings and emotions become more intense as well (e.g., anger, frustration).
Understanding this has helped me because I now look at people who struggle with it differently. Instead of just dismissing their struggle as just an episode to justify excuses for failures, I can be more compassionate and try to find the ways I can be of support or comfort, as they navigate through such a real challenge.
My Personal Conclusions
Firstly, I have also come to recognize that all anxiety symptoms have a deeper root, and most of the time we only see and try to solve or address the symptoms only, without understanding the root of it.
Part of what has helped me to get to this point of understanding was when I examined myself realistically. I looked for any signs that may indicate that I may have dealt with it at one time or the other, but without not recognizing it for what it was.
After doing that I was able to pinpoint times when I had exhibited symptoms of anxiety. I experienced shortness of breath, or sleep apnea [a byproduct of being overweight due to excessive eating caused by anxiety and stress]. (This one used to freak out my wife). Being irritable quite easily, and thankfully, very short-lived episodes of lightheadedness, nausea, and excessive sweating at night.
Here is a significant and very helpful fact
Another key element and probably the most significant one that helped me to recognize the reality of the conditions is ‘how many times the scriptures tell us to not be anxious. More specifically, not to be fearful, – 365 times. I don’t think that is a coincidence.
The Lord knows that we will be, and so He not only told us not to be anxious for nothing, but He also gave us a way to deal with anxiety. Check out this video for some of this.
I have come to realize that I have to be compassionate with and around people who have not yet arrived at where they are able to not be anxious or fearful especially when the root cause has not been identified.
I have not arrived myself, but I have left and am well into the journey of living a life where I am in complete control of anxiety, stress, and fear.
Let me know where you are on this journey. Please share in the comments below.
Each one of us will help one along the way.
Conclusion
We should be aware and not forget that anxiety is a normal occurrence for many people.
To recap the general symptoms of anxiety are feelings of nervousness, tension, or panic without any apparent reason.
This is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. Much of it is due to the lack of knowledge and awareness on how to recognize and properly treat it.
“Anxiety is a normal and natural emotion that we all experience”.
Extreme anxiety, however, is an illness. It can be described as when one’s body and mind are severely upset by excessive uneasiness or fear.” –
Anxiety causes people to feel like they are on the brink of something bad happening so they’re constantly afraid.
We need to be more aware and teach our communities that everyone experiences anxiety in one form or the other. For some, it is a daily or constant battle, for others not so much.
If you are a dad looking for help, encouragement, or motivation, check out this article.
Also, check out this video for more information on stress and anxiety. You will also find some tips on how to manage them.
