The Wall

The amount of reality in this picture hits me right in the feels. For people who have never had to deal with anxiety in their own lives, count yourself insanely lucky. To be clear, anxiety and depression are two different things, though they often go hand in hand. Depression makes you feel like shit, that you don't want to do anything. Anxiety makes you think about why you'd fail, who you're letting down, what could go wrong, and anytime you've failed in the past. That's the worst part about anxiety. It makes you think. You get caught up in your own head and tear yourself apart, without even attempting the thing that is causing you to panic.

Now, people experience anxiety and depression differently on a person to person basis. Some people shut themselves down, refusing to feel anything. Some feel too much, and get overloaded and breakdown. Some yell and scream, logically or irrationally. Some might even get violent, with objects or (unfortunately) themselves or other people.

If you're someone who has anxiety, or are simply trying to help someone who has it, one method you can use to fight against an anxiety attack is with a method called "grounding".

Grounding does not solve an anxiety attack. That is not what it's purpose is. Grounding is essentially a very simple form of meditation that helps you calm down, to put your brain back in control so you can deal with what is actually bothering you. Anxiety and depression have a nasty habit of blowing a small problem way out of proportion.

I'd like to mention one more thing before I finish up. It is OKAY to not know what is wrong. It is OKAY to not know how to fix why you feel this way right now. It is OKAY that you don't feel the same way as some other people. It is OKAY to feel that things in your life are difficult, even without being a kid in some place in Africa.

Right now, everything might feel like a pile of shit. But it will be okay. It might not be okay in the next minute, or the next hour, or tomorrow. But it will be okay. It will work out eventually. And there is ALWAYS at least one person who cares about you.

Remember that. I care.

Toodles!