Anxiety is that feeling of worry or anxiety that we can all feel at some point in our lives. However, it becomes disabling when it is chronic. Anxiety can manifest itself in different ways at any time. Some people who suffer from it do not know what they are really going through, and many confuse it with depression or other mental illnesses when this is simply not the case. Here are the common habits of someone living with constant anxiety.
Performance anxiety
If you have performance anxiety, most of the time, people won’t notice it. Even when your heart is beating very hard, your face seems calm. Someone has added an extra task to your seemingly never-ending task list, and you smile and accept without complaining and keep your feelings inside. A constant feeling of discomfort. It’s panic, stress, worry. It’s exhausting, but you always find a way to work even with those negative feelings.
Difficult sleep
The anxiety does not go away during the day and even if you want to be a carefree person for 12 hours, the anxiety returns when you try to sleep. According to Dr. Carla Marie Manly, clinical psychologist, when you internalize anxiety and feel good during the day, it can manifest itself in the form of sleep disturbances (difficulty falling asleep, or waking up at night or have trouble falling back to sleep).
Physical pain
Anxiety not only affects your mental health, it can also affect your physical health. It always manifests itself in different ways. According to Dr. Sanam Hafeez, psychologist, constant physical pain is a sign of a high level of anxiety. These are usually pain in the neck, shoulder or even a constant knot in the stomach.
Not being able to relax
It can be difficult to focus on your health when you have so many other issues in mind. According to Dr. Manly, constant anxiety can keep a person from relaxing and letting go. Whether it is to stay busy with work, household chores or physical exercise, constant anxiety results in an inability to relax.
Stay busy
Even if it is in your best interest to slow down, you are doing the opposite. You take up more work because you think staying busy is distracting you and you don’t want to let people down. Even if it’s not related to work, you will find a distraction to keep your mind occupied. You don’t like to be alone with your thoughts for long.
You want to make everyone happy, and your friends and family are proud of you. However, no matter how many achievements you make, you can never really have fun.
perfectionism
Another sign of anxiety disorder is to be always in search of perfection. According to Dr. Manly, anxiety can lead to the pursuit of perfection, whether at work, in personal relationships or even unrealistic expectations of physical appearance.
Bad habits
You have probably developed bad habits that help you cope with anxiety. You can bite your nails or scratch your skin. You can pull your hair or your eyebrows. To help remedy this, you can stretch or try deep breaths.
Isolation
You sometimes feel isolated from others because of your fears. Your friends don’t understand why normal things are difficult for you, why you leave parties early, or why you can’t accept a compliment. So you keep your feelings to yourself which only makes matters worse. This can lead to inner loneliness.
You criticize yourself a lot
You are hard on yourself, even harder than most people. You blame yourself for all your mistakes, even the smallest. You don’t know how to comfort yourself or remember that mistakes are human and everything will be fine. Instead, your brain constantly berates you on a daily basis.
