Anxiety and functioning
I have been suffering from GAD and social anxiety for over six years and I have such a hard time knowing what's normal anymore. Everyone keeps saying that "everyone has it rough" and "everyone has their ups and downs" but is it really normal to need to distract yourself every second of every day because as soon as you are left alone with your thought you get an anxiety attack? To sleep the weekend away beacuse you are so exhausted from feeling stressed out all week at work? From not being able to ask your sister for something as small as borrowing a pen because I feel like I'm not worth it and would just annoy her? I'm so scared that this is how everyone feels and that it can never get better- I feel like I'm constantly on the verge of breaking down and I just can't anymore. But I'm more convinced that I'm just "bad" at handling normal stuff and that I just "need to get better at it". I'm so sorry for bothering you all with this, I just needed to tell someone. Thanks for reading.
@intuitiveWater6984
What is normal? And why are so many of us trying to achieve it? Your normal is not going to be my normal. I think we just all need to find our own places in life where we're happy and comfortable.
Part of my "normal" is that I hate being in large groups of people and just shut down - I cannot talk to anyone. And I'm okay with that. My husband could step into a room of a thousand strangers and speak to every one of them as if they were friends and family. His normal for interaction is not mine, and that's okay.
Find out within yourself what things you do that make you at ease and work toward being comfortable with that. Maybe asking your sister to borrow a pen is too much right now, but looking at her and smiling is just fine. So smile. And when smiling becomes your comfortable "norm," then you can ask for that pen.... if that example makes any sense. :)
It's okay. We all take little steps toward our own happiness. Toward our own normal.
