Not Letting the Anxiety Define You
So I've never had an anxiety attack exactly. For me it's generally more of an all the time, constantly strung-out thing that makes it really hard to focus on or finish anything. I pace and fidget *a lot*, I chew my lip, I rarely get hungry, and I procrastinate something awful. But I was thinking - I've heard people talk about trying to think of their depression as a separate entity, and I was wondering if that might work for anxiety too.
I guess in a way depression/anxiety could be like a form of expression in itself, proving the point that there is something wrong/missing in your life - but you can't quite articulate what that thing is without explaining your whole life story in excruciating detail. The search for that missing piece becomes a part of your identity and self-expression, and the more you try and think of a "solution" the more apparent that absence becomes, as do the symptoms.
So how do you separate the anxiety from your sense of identity?
Hmm that's interesting, I never thought about it that way. Maybe if people thought about it like that it might reduce the anxiety since it seems people feel really low about feeling anxiety and that low self esteem feeds more anxiety so it's an ongoing cycle.
This is my entire life in 1 paragraph
Lovely thread <3
This is certainly a topic I'll be thinking over for quite some time, but my unfiltered answer would be...
Well, I have a natural disdain for labels and I try to look at them from a distance, realizing that they inform me about portions about myself and serve to EXPLAIN behavior rather than dictate it.
The more I think about all the lovely little nuances that make me ME, the less anxious I feel, the more grounded. I don't know if that helps but I hope it was at least somewhat relatable:)
This is probably going to sound pretty negative at first, but please bear with me:
From the time everyone's little, we all know to cry, pout, throw a fit, or panic whenever it seems like there's no answers or everything's out of our control. I don't think that's something anyone outgrows any more than crying out in pain from an actual physical blow.
On the other hand, those behaviors can become self-destructive and all-consuming without some way to tell the difference between those who can't help versus those who won't. For different people, that's probably going to mean something different.
For people with anxiety, I think having some sort or structure or a way to mark progress helps a lot. You can't progress at anxiety without finding new ways to hold yourself back from something else.
