9 things only people with anxiety will understand

1. When something starts to hurt, you immediately jump to the worst conclusions.

Image Source: Instagram user Pranita Kocharekar

(That side-ache is appendicitis, your stomach ache is an ulcer, the mole you've had since you were 4 is cancerous, and your scab that's not healing- it's going to result in blood poisoning.)


2. When you hear a sound outside your window at night, you think you are going to be murdered in your sleep. 
(It's an axe-murderer! Definitely not a racoon or a cat!)


3. When you're home alone and get in the shower, you also think you are going to be murdered. 
(It's how it happens in all the movies!)


4. You can never remember if you locked the car door.
(But is it locked? Did I lock it? I don't remember it beeping... what if someone gets in my car and hotwires it and drives away? What if they run over someone while driving my car and commit a hit and run and then the police run the plates and then I go to jail for a crime I didn't commit?!)


5. You can never remember if you turned off the stove. 
(Is the stove on? Did I leave the stove on? Is there anything flammable near the stove? What if something falls on the stove and it catches fire and then the whole kitchen catches on fire and then the house burns down and then the neighbors' house catches fire too and the whole neighborhood goes up in flames?!)


6. If someone turns down plans to hang out with you... it's obviously because they hate you and think you are the weirdest person on the planet.
(What if they're laughing about the fact that I even invited them to that movie? Is that movie lame? Am I lame? Is it weird I invited them to that movie? Do they think I like them like them, even though I totally DON'T and now they are gonna be weird around me and tell all our mutual friends what I did and then none of them will want to be my friend and then I'm going to have no one?!)


7. You get a call from someone you haven't heard from in a while, and you freak out.
(What did I do.... Why are they calling me....)


8. You cook someone a meal and think you accidentally poisoned them. 
(Did I cook the meat all the way through? Did I wash the veggies before I cooked them? Did I wash my hands? Are they going to get salmonella from this chicken? What if they get salmonella from this chicken... Did I forget to wash the veggies... I think I forgot to wash the veggies. What if they're just eating cooked pesticides?!)


9. When you go to sleep, you lie awake knowing you're just going to go through this all again tomorrow.
(I can't sleep and now I'm only going to get 6.75 hours of sleep instead of the 9 I'm scientifically supposed to be getting to function at optimum levels.)

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Do any of you ever struggle with anxiety?