Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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Anxiety does not mean you are weak:

AnxietyFreak40
AnxietyFreak40

For years I have thought...I am weak for having this stupid mental issue.  I have had GAD for many years now.  I've gone through all the phases of searching for the answers to why only to find there is no answer.  I love to read...usually some type of supernatural fiction. Recently I found that one of my favorite series was about to come out with a new book.  The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs: http://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/.  Anyway,  it had been a long time between books so I decided to go back to the beginning and re-read them all.  Mercy is a strong woman.  She has a lot of bad crap happen to her though..which eventually leads her to have panic attacks and anxiety.  I hadn't really registered that the first time I read through these.  The thing is you never really think of her as weak, even though she is having these panic attacks.  She acknowledges them, throws up if she has to, then sucks it up and keeps on moving.  It made the lightbulb go on in my head.  It doesn't have to make me weak, I can suck it up and keep on going.  I know, it's just a work of fiction and not realy life.  but it felt like a sharing observation.

cachetteen1
cachetteen1
thank u for posting link, Im a little book worm, love inspirational type stories:)
AnxietyFreak40
AnxietyFreak40
Lol. I don't kmow how inspirational it is. They are supernatural books with werewolves and vampires., but I always thought I want to be tough like her and then reading through the the second time, realized she's dealing with panic And anxiety
hummingbird123
hummingbird123
I'm also an avid reader so thanks for sharing! I've told myself that anxiety is something I have, just like if I had migraines or diabetes or whatever. I will do what I can to mange it, let it flow when it's bad, and be happy the days it's less. But I too fought against it being a weakness. Dealing with anything that makes life harder is strength, period. And sometimes strength is saying "I'm feeling panicky and awful right now and that's ok! And I can take a break from fighting it and let it do its thing. That's strength too because it's scary to let it happen. I'm so glad you found someone in a book to help you feel strong!
Minidogs2
Minidogs2
Excellent post about the difference it makes to accept the reality of what you're dealing with in a better way. You can think of yourself as a stronger person for fighting it and refusing to give up. It is a battle that I Fight daily also. We are overcomers! Interesting that the main character it sounds like deals with a lot of anxiety. I'll bet the author does in her own life. I'll have to check on that. Thanks for sharing.
china70
china70
ive been through some crap in my life that i think is why I now have anxiety and have had it for years. She is strong for pushing through it. Anxiety totally sucks to have. I hate that people judge us as weak for having it. They have no clue how we battle daily with this crap. Ugh I especially hate being judged by my own family who can be so damn ignorant about it but you cant change stupid. Some people jus don't realize how stupid they really are. lol. Ignorance is bliss. Keep on fighting.
ladyginger
ladyginger
China70, I completely understand what you're saying. I decided a while ago to just stop trying to explain what I'm going through. Like you, I've been through and am still going through so much stuff that there are days that I wonder how I survived my past and how I'm surviving the current state of affairs. I know I'm not weak. I know from personal experience that it takes strength to fight this battle daily. For me what started with anxiety moved in to a panic disorder with agoraphobia. When I look back at the active life I once had versus what I'm living now, I feel physically sick.
AnxietyFreak40
AnxietyFreak40
I figured out a long time ago about other people: It's not that they don't care, but if they haven't experienced anxiety themselves, they just have no way of understanding it.
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