‘Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday’ Author Unknown
Anxiety is a response to stress that has both psychological and physical features. Anxiety prepares us to confront a crisis by putting the body on alert, this is known as the ‘fight or flight response’. For an animal in the wild under threat, this physiological response enables them to prepare for fighting or fleeing. For people today, this need for a fight or flight response is generally not often necessary for survival. The physical effects of this can be counterproductive, such as, light-headedness, nausea, diarrhoea, and frequent urination. When anxiety persists, it can take a toll on our mental and physical health.
Someone once asked me, “Can you tell me what anxiety is like?” I replied, “Let me ask you a question – when you fall, how far do you fall until you stop?” “Until I hit the bottom” “Anxiety is the feeling of constantly falling, but not going anywhere, and not knowing where the bottom is. Anxiety is feeling your heart racing as your mind goes into free fall, and your body is bracing for the impact as you try and catch your breath, through the fog that hides your view. But the impact never happens and the fall never slows down. Anxiety is like trying to catch your breath as you fall as the weight of your past becomes the weight of your future. Anxiety is like being stalked by all your fears at once. It’s that sudden fear of feeling you’re a prisoner as you caress your past back to life, waiting for your tormentor to mock you, never knowing that the person tormenting you… is yourself. Anxiety often doesn’t need a reason to come. It invites itself and stays without argument. Anxiety feeds on itself, and enjoys isolation”.
– Andre Jackson
‘When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.’ – Author Unknown
‘Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.’ Usman B. Asif
Article by Susan Findlay BTchg, Parent to Parent Information Officer