11 Brutal Lies Anxiety Makes Me Believe About Myself

This piece was written by Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, a Thought Catalog contributor

1. Anxiety makes me believe I’m unsafe.

Anxiety wants me to know I’m never safe no matter where I am. It wants me to believe I’m in danger at all times, and there’s no safe haven available for me.

2. Anxiety makes me believe my panic attack isn’t just a panic attack.

Anxiety makes me believe my panic attack is something much worse than what it actually is. It makes me think I am having a heart attack, a stroke and that I am going to die. Anxiety shows me no mercy.

3. Anxiety makes me believe I should shut myself off from the world.

Anxiety doesn’t want me to feel fulfilled in my life. It doesn’t want me to be happy or mentally stable either, and tells me I shouldn’t waste anyone’s precious time. Anxiety tells me I should probably cancel those plans, because there’s no point in disappointing people (again).

4. Anxiety makes me believe I am weak.

Anxiety loves to tell me I am weak and pathetic. It likes to whisper to me every night and day that I should just stop trying, because I’m not worth it in the first place. Anxiety makes me think I am small and a burden to my loved ones.

5. Anxiety makes me believe I don’t deserve love.

Anxiety tells me I should just cancel the date before I make an awkward mess of myself. Anxiety tells me I don’t deserve love — because how could someone like type of shit show person I am?

6. Anxiety makes me believe I’m not good enough.

Anxiety tells me my best is terrible. It makes me want to tear myself apart every time I make a tiny mistake, and makes me pay for what I did. Anxiety has no sympathy for my failures or lessons learned.

7. Anxiety makes me believe I’m going to mess up every good thing in my life.

Anxiety frequently tells me I’m going to ruin everything good in my life. If I’m in a loving relationship, anxiety tells me I’m going to mess it up. If I finally get the job of my dreams, anxiety tells me to quit before I fuck up.

8. Anxiety makes me believe I won’t ever get better.

Anxiety hammers into my head every day that it’s not going anywhere. It tells me I’ll have anxiety forever and that I’m a lost cause. Anxiety wants me to believe it owns me — that it controls everything I do.

9. Anxiety makes me believe I’m better off spending time alone.

Anxiety adores shutting down my social calendar and making me think I don’t deserve great friendships. Anxiety is skilled at convincing me to flake all the time, even if it’s with people I care deeply for.

10. Anxiety makes me believe no one likes me, and that they are all just pretending.

Anxiety tells me even my best friends hate me. It plagues my mind with paranoid thoughts that everyone is just pretending and they only hang out with me because they feel sorry for me.

11. Anxiety makes me believe I am less of a beautiful human being because of my mental illness.

Anxiety loves to tell me I’m not enough. It tells me I’m not beautiful or smart enough to get the success I want. It likes to shower me with self-hatred and self-doubt consistently throughout the day.

This story was brought to you by Thought Catalog and Quote Catalog.

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