Your anxiety is valid

I’ve sometimes found that my anxiety can make me worry about the weirdest things. Once the anxiety is passed and my head is clear again, I sometimes find myself wondering why the hell I was worried about it in the first place.

If I could list all the things I’ve been anxious about in the past year, it would look very wild - my friends hating me, being arrested, a nuclear war, being scared about having several different illnesses (brain tumours and skin cancer to name two) and then we circled back round to the nuclear war thing. I would find myself frantically Googling things in an attempt to calm myself but it would only make things worse.

But no matter what it is you’re worried about, whether it be world peace or your health - it is totally valid. Anxiety spares no prisoners - it’s go big or go home. Don’t worry about it or spend a week having anxiety attacks and losing sleep over it.

Anxiety is a proper medical condition; it’s an emotion too but speaking medically it is recognised by health professionals and it is a big deal.

People without anxiety might not understand the complications it brings. The sleepless nights, the anxiety attacks, being an irritable nightmare and finding yourself snapping because you’re so on edge. That’s not nothing; I repeat, it’s a medical condition and it is a big deal. Never let anyone convince you otherwise.

You can’t control when your anxiety comes or when it goes; it’s just there. It can pop up when you’re reading an article on international relations and suddenly, the fear of nuclear war is back. Or, a dodgy looking pop up will come up on your computer and suddenly you’re worried you’ve committed a cybercrime, you’re just not sure which one.

When I’m typing those out, I realise they sound a bit ridiculous but both those situations have occurred in my life and I have to remind myself they’re not stupid.  Unfounded, maybe, but definitely not invalid or stupid.

I sometimes wish I could choose what it is I’m worried about. If I could channel my anxiety into worry of failing my A-Levels then it might actually be useful, but instead, I’ll be on Quora asking how likely someone thinks a third world war is.

Again, you might feel your fears are unfounded but they’re not - they’re caused by your anxiety and your anxiety is valid.

​Jazz