Is it normal to feel more anxious when you're alone?

In my experience it's normal to feel anxious in pretty much any circumstance, and yes most definitely when you're alone. Being alone can exacerbate anxiety because there is no other presence to connect with and distract you from your emotions. I think connection is the most important combatant to anxiety, and this includes the presence of animals. I don't think we're alone when we have pets, or animal friends (I'm thinking of birds and other little critters who visit people and then go about their lives). I also think that being in connection with others through devices, counts as not being alone. So many of us are alone at the moment due to the Covid19 situation. Connecting with others through texts, calls and video calls is so important. It is normal to feel more anxious when you're alone, but there will always be someone in the world who wants to connect to you.

Sometimes being alone makes us think about many things and if we are not doing anything or already subconsciously stressed by other things that happened during the day or week, all that will add up and make us anxious. But anxiousness is a totally valid and common feeling. So do not feel abnormal about it! Just find something to do and focus on which you enjoy, listen to something soothing like ambient music, meditation, a cd you love, do your hobbies, just find something to focus on. Or call someone you trust to talk out your feelings to! Remember if you do not have someone to turn to, 7 Cups community is also here for you 24/7 with both regular listeners and professionals.

yes mild anxiety is normal, It is what allows us to be productive such as studying, working or excelling in anything. Mild anxiety allows us to learn and stay motivated as long as the anxiety is under control. Learning to cope with anxiety can be easier for some people more than others. The important thing is to learn to live with your anxiety and work with it. Being alone may be more anxious for some people than others. If you start experiencing severe or panic anxiety than you may want to talk to a medical professional that may be able to help

Hello there, I will try and help the best I can, I do have personal experience with anxiety. If you feel you may be becoming more anxious when alone try to think about what type of thoughts are entering your mind at the time, being alone gives us a large amount of time to ruminate over things we experienced in our past, things affecting our current life and even things that have not yet happened. If you feel it is becoming more of an issue for you at this present time it often helps speaking to a trusted family member/friend/or other but I must say that what works for some people will not work for others so please bare in mind. I hope I have been able to help in answering your question. Please take care!

Definitely. When I am alone, I have less distractions and more time to think. If I have something that is already causing me stress or anxiety, being alone can give my brain that time to further think, and then I end up spiralling! I find continual distraction is the best way round it, walking outside, or doing something I enjoy to give my mind something else to think about, failing that calling, face-timing a friend and talking about how I feel helps too!. I know all too fondly how anxiety can creep up, and the best way to deal with it is for sure... distracting yourself, but also being kind to yourself too. :)

Yes, it is normal. Because when you're alone, your mind becomes more focused on what happened in the past; and also what could happen in the future. The mind starts deconstructing and analyzing all the "what-if's" and "what-could-have-been's." And if you had been exposed to a toxic and abusive relationship (whether filial or romantic), your mind tends to replay the day's events (or the week's events); Probably just to see if there's some clues there that would warrant the need to protect yourself from some hurtful event or injury in the future. In short, your mind becomes more active when you are alone than when you are with people.

Yes, some of us are not well adjusted to spending time on our own, might fear loneliness and facing some more complex emotions that are pushed to the background in the everyday busy life. I believe it's good to spend time on facing them as long as it's manageable and spread time with yourself alone, do things you like and just get used to yourself more, it can be only beneficial. with time it might become easier. I highly recommend dedicating " a day for myself" once a week and taking notes of all the feelings and thoughts to discuss them later with a listener or a therapist

I believe it is. It's easier to get distracted from our feelings when we're around other people. It forces us to pay attention to other people's emotions, instead of our own. When I'm alone at home, I usually play music out loud or watch TV shows and I noticed it makes me feel less anxious. I think that's because it makes me unaware of my own feelings, just like when I'm with other people. Still, I think it's worth it to spend some time alone to try to understand where my anxiety is coming from and can I do about it!

Probably. Depending on your past experiences when being without people, sometimes it may feel like having other people there can make you feel safer or more protected than if you were by yourself with nobody else around. I can definitely understand what you're saying, especially if you have very close friends you trust enough to protect you in times where you feel unsafe. You also may have an issue with the fact that there's no noise and it's completely quiet, which is a lot more likely if you're alone by yourself, and if so I totally recommend getting some music or white noise or turning on your air conditioner/fan if you have any of those available to you.

I’d say it’s definitely normal to feel this way, everyone deals with anxiety in their own way, we’re Individual to one another so we may do or feel differently depending on the situation. Loneliness can cause an individual to overthink, maybe worry more and maybe bring a sense of sadness, this could result in struggling with anxiety when being alone. Sometimes individuals feel better having the comfort of others or just by knowing someone’s there. If you have a good support network expressing this may help them see what they could do more to help you feeling so alone.