If I had a dollar for every time I heard the words "It's all in your head".
I'd be sitting pool side at my beach front mansion sipping martinis.
Unless you've lived it, felt it, let it tear you apart from the inside out, you have no idea the mental and physical pain anxiety inflicts on ones day to day lives.
People are always questioning,
"What's stressing you out?"
"What triggered the attack?"
And the truth is, 99% of the time, we don't have an answer for you.
Anxiety isn't always about a person, place, or thing that causes the manic fit that stops the world around us.
It's driving down the road on a beautiful sunny day and having to pull over because your chest gets so tight you can't breathe.
Or being cuddled up on the couch watching your favorite movie and suddenly feeling your body go numb.
Even being around the people you're most comfortable and dropping to your knees in a state of fear and panic.
The thing is, that we desperately want you to understand is that there isn't always "something".
Most of the time it's nothing at all, but then everything at once.
When you say "It's all in your head", we know you mean well, but honestly it makes our insides scream.
Without exaggeration the most simple way to say how we feel is,
We feel like we're about to die.
Our hearts are racing a thousand beats per minute.
We're breathing heavily, causing too much oxygen to reach out brains, which in turn leaves us light headed and dizzy.
We feel so physically hot that no amount of fresh air or breeze can ever cool us down.
We feel disoriented and confused as to what's going on. We try to pin point what part of our body hurts, but we don't know because we don't even feel attached to our bodies anymore.
Most of all, we feel angry and sad, because we're sick of feeling this way.
We're sick of perfect days being ruined by a force we ourselves don't even understand.
Which is why we don't expect you to understand.
But, what we do need is for you to know is it's not all in our heads.
Anxiety is very real to us. It lives within us every day. And while in time and with the proper guidance we may be able to cope with it better.
So, no, we can't just "get over it."
