What does the face of anxiety look like?

Would you know what someone looks like if they have anxiety?
Do you imagine them walking around wringing their hands, shaking and looking around frightfully?

Well that's very rarely the case.  Most of us do very well at hiding our anxiety.  Some of us don't even know that we are anxious until someone puts a name to our feelings and says, "do you think it could be anxiety?"

I remember well the first time my doctor mentioned that maybe I wasn't about to suffer a stroke or had a mystery stomach flu or some deadly illness.  She simply said, "do you think it could be anxiety?"  No way I cried!  This is real.  It isn't in my head.  I'm absolutely positive that I am about to end up in an early grave at the ripe old age of 19 and you are telling me it's all in my head?

Surely if I had anxiety I would be behaving strangely and someone would have noticed before now.  I mean I have a job and a boyfriend and friends. I'm not mental.

Oh how our understanding of anxiety has changed over the last 20 years.  It's now more acceptable to admit to your friends that you have anxiety, most of the time.  However it is still very hard to spot in ourselves and others.

I have many clients who come into my clinic with a health concern and have no idea that anxiety is compounding the issue and often blocking them from getting better.  They may have an image in their head on what anxiety looks like and they don't fit the picture.  But anxiety doesn't have an image.  There are people who walk around out in the world suffering the most debilitating anxiety and they have a perfectly acceptable smiling mask on their face.  They smile and say "I'm fine, how are you?"  Notice the quick deflection away from talking about themselves and focusing on someone else?  Much easier for someone with anxiety to help others than try and help themselves.

That's where I come in.  I have YEARS of experience helping others until one day I asked for help myself and it changed my life!  I am still so very grateful to the amazing counsellor who finally helped me understand what anxiety looks like.  It looked like me.  It looked like me on a happy day, on a sad day, on an angry day, at work, at the beach, at a party, at home in my PJ's.  I can't put a picture up on this blog of what anxiety looks like because it doesn't have a single face.  It has triggers.

If you would like help understanding what your anxiety looks like for you and what your triggers may be, then please give me a call or make a booking below.

Leah xx
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