Anxiety often gets talked about, and there is no shortage of advice about how to manage it. You might have read about breathing exercises, grounding techniques, positive thinking, or calming quotes. Sometimes these can help.
This is a personal reflection on what anxiety can feel like, including the physical and overwhelming experience that can be hard to put into words.
But anxiety does not always feel reachable in those moments.
Anxiety can show up differently for different people. Our minds and bodies respond in different ways, and what helps one person may not touch the sides for someone else. When anxiety takes hold, it is not as though you have a book to hand, or a post you read last week sitting clearly in your mind. Quite often, all you know is that something feels frightening, overwhelming, and very real.
For me, this is how anxiety shows up.
The physical side of anxiety.
The one that can quite literally stop me in my tracks.
The one that, for me, feels overwhelming.
Disorientating.
Unmistakably real.
A swimming head.
Dizziness that seems to come from nowhere.
That strange, unsettling feeling of being slightly detached from my own body, as though I am there… but not quite there.
At times, I notice palpitations.
Sweating.
Thoughts spiralling.
Everything feeling louder, both internally and externally.
My senses can become heightened.
Even the feel of my most comfortable clothes can suddenly become unbearable.
There are moments where I find myself trying to catch my breath.
Almost gasping for air.
A tightness in my throat, as though something is getting in the way of the one thing I need most, oxygen.
My body feels like it is reacting to something, but I am not always sure what.
There are times where it feels like a surge of panic.
A strong urge to escape.
A sense that I need to get out, but there is nowhere to go.
That trapped feeling.
No clear exit.
No obvious reason.
Just a body and mind that feel completely out of sync.
There are still moments where anxiety catches me off guard, where it feels close and immediate. Moments where part of me wants to step away, to avoid, to get out of the situation.
And I recognise just how real it feels in those moments.
I am aware of what is happening in those moments.
I recognise it for what it is.
And I remind myself that I am human.
In those moments, it is not always as simple as taking a few deep breaths.
It is not always eased by reading a quote like:
“Just breathe, everything will be okay.”
Because when I am in it, everything does not feel okay.
And being told to calm down, or to remind myself that I am in control, can feel almost impossible to take in.
If anything, it can create more pressure.
As though I am getting it wrong.
As though I am somehow out of control.
But I have come to understand that I am not getting it wrong.
Over time, I have come to recognise what can sit behind these moments, and to understand myself a little more when they happen.
What I am feeling is real.
Not imagined.
Not exaggerated.
Not something I am making up.
My experience is happening to me, in my body, in that moment.
And there is nothing more real than that.
I am writing about this from my own experience.
These are moments I recognise.
Times where anxiety has felt overwhelming, and at times has led into panic.
This is human.
Something I experience too.
And it is part of what has drawn me towards working with anxiety, supporting others who may be experiencing something similar.
Because sometimes, anxiety is not about quick fixes or finding the right words to make it stop.
Sometimes it is about acknowledging what is there.
“This feels intense.”
“This feels frightening.”
“This feels like too much.”
Not trying to override it.
Not trying to force it away.
But recognising it for what it is.
Because something can begin to shift when my experience is met with understanding rather than resistance.
In counselling, this is often where we start.
Not by trying to fix or solve straight away, but by gently making sense of what anxiety feels like for you.
How it shows up.
What it brings with it.
What might sit underneath it.
At your pace.
Because when something feels as real and as powerful as anxiety can, it deserves to be taken seriously.
And so do you.
If any of this feels familiar, you might take a moment to pause, perhaps noticing something around you or the feel of your feet on the ground.
