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...
Why did I have to have stupid anxiety, and have it set in in the freaking 7th grade? Missing school so much it seems unnatural for me to be there, according to my friends? why arent I normal?
The good news first ....You ARE normal here! Our paths have crossed because we suffer from the same thing. You have found the right place to get the encouragement and support you need. To vent and learn from the experiences of others that suffer right along with you at varying degrees.
The bad news....it is hard to deal with. :(
Anxiety is something when recognized and worked on can improve. It is not easy. If you begin to work on it now, you can have a much better productive life. You are young and there is hope.
What are you doing to receive the help you need?
I've been an anxious person since the beginning- and from the beginning I mean as an infant I would freak out in new places or with new people. Common for some babies, but for me it just never ended. My anxiety really started to heighten when I was 13 (7th grade) and hit it's peak in high school. Just last year, in my senior year, I was at my worst. I felt so trapped and was just miserable. I would have panic attacks in class and I would ask to go to the nurse, just to calm down and get an escape, only to have teachers roll their eyes at me and tell me I left class too much and couldn't go. I missed school a lot too, because I was just so terrified and the stress of being so anxious all day took a toll on me. I felt so hopeless and didn't think it would get better. Anyway I really feel for you and what you are going through. I am doing better now but I will never forget what it's like to feel so alone and so scared. I too thought that I wasn't normal and that there was something wrong with me. But there really isn't anything *wrong* with you, it's just the way you are. It's the way your brain works.
Is there any possible way that you can seek help through therapy? I never had it during high school, and I believe it would have helped me tremendously as talking about the anxiety and understanding it seems to help me. I learned a lot of coping techniques through this website, and I find that breathing techniques help me a lot.
Anyway, I wish I could offer you more advice, but I am not the most knowledgable about the subject, though there are are plenty of other people in this group who know way more than I do and have awesome advice for dealing with anxiety. I just wanted to offer you some support and encouragement. Hang in there!
lucinda bassett
And it has been my experience in talking with people that the younger you are when it starts, the smarter you are. My nephew is 9 and extremely smart and his symptoms started when he was 7....but he got it under control by being proud of it. And that's really what helped him, I am not making that up. Once he realized that the fact that he had it meant that he had all these wonderful qualities, he became so proud of it that he quit fearing it. He would walk up to people and proudly tell them he has anxiety. And for the time being, it isn't an issue for him anymore.
I know that you are older and it is more complex for a teenager but I just wanted you to know that you are special and that it is nothing to be ashamed of.
So, its not all bad
Everyone on the entire planet has anxiety at one time or another. It is built into our brains. Look up the amydgala on Wiki.
Your fight or flight response (which every human being has), is just set on high for the time being. Your body is doing exactly what it was meant to do in a dangerous situation (i.e. escaping a lion). Your brain cannot see that there is no lion. You have to re-train your thinking habits to re-set that switch in your brain.
Keep going to therapy and practice calming your body and your mind. Think of your anxiety as a habit that you are trying to change. Everyone needs it to be safe, just not on "danger alert" all the time. Cars are set to have an alarm go off if someone breaks into them, not when the wind blows a little hard. Hope that makes sense!