Anxiety is something that is still often undiagnosed or unrecognised even though it is now seen as one of the most common disorders in the world.
It is such a serious condition that we need to see it as something to be treated as soon as possible as it can have huge negative affects on our lives, spiraling out of control, making it harder to bounce back from if it isn't broached.
However, no matter what level of anxiety you feel you have to know that you can stop feeling this way with a bit of time, effort and understanding.
Anxiety is something that can control your mental, emotional and physical reactions which is why we need to take it seriously.
It can consume you and affect some or all areas of your life.
Now, some of us will feel some sort of anxiety that is a low level emotion and can actually help us in making decisions and dealing with things but then there are those that suffer from acute anxiety who have to deal with huge waves of emotions and thoughts that cause major problems in their lives.
Anxiety is a natural response to the things we know or think are a danger to us on some level.
This can be good as it prepares us mentally and physically to deal with it.
However some of us can experience this at a higher level which can create such an intense feeling there is a negative affect rather than a positive one.
This is when anxiety becomes a problem as it will begin and continue to interfere with everyday life and making you stay away from even the most mundane things like shopping, eating in public or walking alone on the street.
There is so much information out there to help you cope with anxiety that you can sometimes end up believing you can cope by yourself.
Although information, such as this article are helpful and knowledge is power if you think you suffer from anxiety and it effects you life in a way you feel trapped by it, please seek professional and medical help for guidance and then continue to educate yourself with as much reading and talking as you can.
Anxiety can go from the small butterflies we feel in our stomach when we go to a party by ourselves to having full blown panic attacks and other severe physical and mental reactions such as nausea, diarrhoea, headaches, palpitations, cold or hot sweats, chronic fatigue or weight loss.
Anxiety is usually caused by us perceiving things more dangerous than they actually are and this causes an negative feeling that is not relative to the situation making it much worse than it is.
The brain therefore learns this and the negative idea and behaviour is perpetuated each time the same or similar scenario is seen.
So what we need to do is gain a realistic and honest perspective on what we see, do and feel.
Anxiety creates a vicious circle where you will worry about being anxious, about being anxious.
This is the foundation why anxiety can take over your life and is something that needs to be fixed and spoken about more.
Your body and mind are so closely linked so this is why anxiety can be felt both emotionally and physically and this is why we need to get to the underlying root cause of anxiety in order to fix it properly.
Panic attacks are one of the most common symptom associated with anxiety with 1 in 10 people experiencing a panic attack at some point in their life.
The amount of attacks you will have will be relative to the level of anxiety you experience.
Phobias are a very common fear that can bring a panic attack on things like claustrophobia, agoraphobia or OCD.
Phobias such as these can result in people avoiding social situations and everyday life as they cannot see past the perceived danger their mind and body reacts to.
Anxiety is serious and this is why there are many resources open to you to help you out and combat this disorder.
One thing that you need to learn is that you should never feel embarrassed about having anxiety as talking about it and getting help is something to be proud of and opening up can help others who also may be suffering from it.
Meeting others who do have anxiety is so good for you as you will know that you are not the only one and that there is always support you need when you need it.
It will also reiterate the point that the worry of what others think of you, a major cause of anxiety, should not be a focal point anymore.
The only worry we should feel is what can we challenge ourselves with next to lead a positive life.