22 Quotes From People Who Have Anxiety – Can You Relate?

To give people more insight into what it feels like to have Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Anxiety tendencies, we from Psych2go asked people who have GAD/anxiety tendencies what it feels like, and what bothers them most about having it. Anxiety affects everyone differently and because it’s deeply personal all quotes are made anonymous.
At the end of the article there will be links to more information as well as links to help lines. If you contributed, thank you for sharing your experience and we wish you a lot of success on your way to improvement and recovery.

1. “I feel like I’m never able to relax. I just cannot let something go once it gets into my head”.
   
2. “What bothers me most? That I cannot even fully enjoy the good days because I’m worried that the next bad day is only hours away. […] support from my friends has helped me a lot though”.
3. “I have skipped parties so often, even with people I’ve known for years. Sometimes I do go, but I still feel guilty for missing so many birthdays all the time. Just the idea of being in a crowd makes me nervous, and I often end up cancelling just before.
4. “The silliest thing I’ve ever done because of my anxiety was taking a later busstop. The bus was really crowded and I had seat by the window (there was someone next  me) . I was so scared to ask people move out of the way so I could get out, that I actually waited until two stops after the one I was supposed to get off. Luckily for me a lot of people had to get off at that stop, but I still had to walk back”.

   

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5. “On days when it’s really bad all the worrying only reinforces itself, if that makes sense. Even when there’s nothing strange happening, I worry that I’m missing something I SHOULD be worrying about, which only makes it worse. Sometimes it’s really a downwards spiral”.
6. “[…] I hardly ever talk about it. The worst thing is, when I finally gather the courage to tell someone a tiny bit about it, people tell me to “just get over it”, like yes, I wish I could, you’re not really helping”.
7. “My (social) anxiety causes me to never really trust people to like me. My anxiety tells me “ah, they must be pretending, you’re so out of place here”, “They’re only being nice because they feel like they have to” and “When you didn’t answer your phone yesterday they must have been offended, they’re angry at you”.
8. “One of the best comparisons I’ve ever heard about anxiety was “you’re always walking around with an umbrella, even when it’s not raining”. I am constantly on edge, even when there is nothing to worry about”.
   
9. “My heart already starts racing when they’re taking attendance at the start of class, even though the most I’d have to say in that moment is ‘present’ or ‘I’m here’. There are countless situations like that , seemingly insignificant, but nerve-wracking for me”.
10. “One of the most annoying things; walking around a supermarket endlessly looking for a certain thing, because I just cannot ask an employee”.
11. “I rarely answer questions in class, and I rarely ask them”.
12. “I’m constantly worried about whether I’m being too clingy, but on the other side I am worried about not being social enough”.
13. *stands at the side of a circle laughing at appropriate moments in the conversation but never joining in*.
14. “It bothers me that some people think I’m just shy”.
15. “I always need to know what is going on or what is going to happen. My anxiety also plays up when there are last minute changes of plans”.
16. “I always overanalyze everything It drives me nuts, but I cannot seem to stop. It’s never really ‘quiet’ – I’m pretty much always thinking”.
17. “I worry an excessive amount about what people think of me, so many people tell me “ah, just don’t”, which is much easier said than done”.
18. “I often feel like people are waiting for me to mess up, even though deep down I know they aren’t”.
19. “Sometimes my anxiety attacks get so bad that I actually think I’m going to die. I’ve been doing much better the last few months, and I’m confident that I can beat this”.
20. “If I get stuck in a crowd, I get incredibly anxious”.

    

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21. “[…]even when I’m doing really bad, I still don’t dare to talk about it. I don’t want to draw attention to myself”.
22. “Sometimes, when I’ve had a conversation with someone, I keep going over it in my head. Even when it was a nice conversation, my mind will keep going on about what I could have said differently to make it better, or worry that I’ve offended them by accident. Sometimes it’s just one word, but at that moment it feels like a big deal. It’s insane, it sometimes even keeps me up at night. I know the the person I was talking probably hasn’t even remembered that particular sentence, and just remembers having a pleasant  conversation. I still cannot let it go. It’s so draining”.