If My Anxiety was a Person

I often sit and wonder what I would say to my anxiety if it was a person. If my anxiety could walk and talk, what might it look like? What would it sound like? Would I like my anxiety if it was a person. This seems a strange thing to think about but if my anxiety was a person would I have them in my life or would I choose to walk the other way?

If my anxiety was a person the first thing I would ask them is, why do you care about things so deeply? Why do you worry so much that sometimes you keep yourself awake at night? Aren’t you tired? It must exhausting carrying the weight of your own horrible opinions of yourself and worrying about the opinions of others at the same time. What if you stopped thinking about what other people think, what might that feel like? What if you spoke to yourself in a nicer way, what could that do for you?

If my anxiety was a person and I held their hand would their nails be bitten short and their cuticles chewed making their hands look sore? If my anxiety was a person and I held their hand to reassure them would it work? Would my anxiety take comfort in my words or would they be in their mind focussing on the narrative their thoughts are giving them? If my anxiety was a person and I offered to help them would they take it? What help would they want?

If my anxiety was a person would they be a she like me? Would they look like me? Would they have ambition and drive, or would they spend their life trying to hide?

If my anxiety was a person and no longer part of me, who would I be? If my anxiety was a person which parts of my life would I lose? If my anxiety was a person and longer part of me, would I still love as deeply? Would I still have the same amount of empathy for the people around me? Would I still want the things I want for my life? Would I still have passion and determination for my goals?

There are times in my life when I wished my anxiety was a person that I could scream and shout at. There are times when I wished I could pull that part of myself away because it was so overwhelming trying to navigate in a world where my body and mind was constantly on red alert. There are times in my life when I wished my anxiety was a person so I could show them to the world, so the world could see what is going on inside my mind.

My anxiety isn’t a person, but it is a part of me and I no longer wish it wasn’t. If I didn’t have my anxiety I wouldn’t be me, I wouldn’t have learned the lessons I’ve learned, I wouldn’t have met the people I have met, I wouldn’t be able to connect with empathy, I wouldn’t be as determined as I am, I wouldn’t have the resilience I have built, my wins wouldn’t feel as huge, if I didn’t have anxiety I wouldn’t be me.

Living with anxiety isn’t easy, some days feel like a fight you cannot win, but each day you survive it you learn and you do inevitably win. Learning to live alongside my anxiety is the most freeing thing I ever did. Learning to understand why it’s there and what it means has allowed me to grow in ways I could never have imagined. If this is something you want for yourself too, book a consultation and lets talk about it.