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What it’s like to have both good and bad days living with anxiety.

 

Transcription:

A Good Day Vs. A Bad Day With Anxiety

On a good day, I wake up with a clear head. On these rare days I lie in bed and think about my plans without anxious anticipation. I’m afforded a few seconds of calm. I feel at peace.

On a bad day, anxiety greets me as soon as I open my eyes, my head already heavy with thoughts and worries about what’s to come. I stay in bed a little longer and fight my way through an ocean of worries to get up.

On a good day, I stress over work and get overwhelmed when I’m busy. When I wrap up a meeting I’m thinking about what needs to be done without overanalyzing everything I said and did.

On a bad day, my back aches as I fight a million negative thoughts through my smile. When I leave to take a break, it’s not because I think I deserve it, but because my head is about to explode.

On a good day, I get home and unwind from the day. I do something I love or a chore I’ve been putting off. I might even go out to dinner with a friend and really enjoy myself.

On a bad day, I get home, exhausted, because it took so much effort to just get through the day. I watch TV not because I want to, but because I need something to numb my head if only for a few hours.

A good day and a bad day with anxiety may look exactly the same from the outside, but you can’t see what’s going on in my head. So if I tell you I’m struggling with anxiety today and need some extra support, don’t assume that just because I “seem” fine I am. Just because you can’t see anxiety doesn’t mean it’s not real.

Originally published: July 3, 2017
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