It doesn’t make you weak, and it doesn’t make you damaged goods.
The symptoms of anxiety are not just internal — they’re physical, too.
Anxiety can wreak physical havoc on your life in the form of headaches, insomnia, muscle pain, panic attacks, and more.
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…But internal symptoms are just as debilitating.
Anxiety is an invisible illness that may not be seen, but is certainly felt. When you deal with anxiety, there's no separating yourself from the symptoms. You carry the misery in your thoughts, your choices, your relationships, yourself. And sometimes, that weight is so heavy that it feels physical.
Haejin Park for BuzzFeed
There are several different types of anxiety — and even those can manifest in different ways.
The most common disorders are Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), which involves chronic, irrational worry about day-to-day things, and Social Anxiety Disorder, which involves a fear of social situations and other people, whether interacting with them or fearing judgment from them, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). There’s also Panic Disorder, which involves sudden and repeated attacks of irrational fear (aka panic attacks), plus intense worry between those episodes.
All that said, even people with the same anxiety disorders experience symptoms differently — so don't presume to know what someone is going through. Anxiety is not one-size-fits-all.
Haejin Park for BuzzFeed
We cancel plans last minute not because we’re jerks, but because some days we wake up and can’t imagine leaving the house.
Taking time away from work/friends/obligations doesn't mean we don't like being social… it just means sometimes we need a break.
Haejin Park for BuzzFeed
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