I have been anxious for as long as I can remember. I grew from an awkward and anxious child to an awkward and anxious adult. As a teenager I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, but it was only as an adult that I learned more about what it actually means to be anxious.<\/p>\n
Having anxiety doesn\u2019t just mean being nervous or worrying. When my mind starts racing and I can\u2019t decide which thing to think about, that\u2019s anxiety. When my chest feels like it\u2019s going to explode from pressure, that\u2019s anxiety. When I snap at a co-worker for no reason at all, or I am inexplicably moody, that\u2019s anxiety. When I spend the entire weekend wondering if I\u2019ll be fired for something I said on Friday, that\u2019s anxiety. When I randomly start crying, or laughing, or jumping up and down, that\u2019s anxiety. When I flake on plans at the last minute, you can bet it\u2019s because of anxiety.<\/p>\n
Anxiety presents in lots of ways that may not be obvious. Unfortunately for me, most of the time mine presents as anger. What does that mean? It means when I feel anxious on the inside, it manifests itself on the outside as me being pissed off. So when I was a kid and my sister was comforted for being upset, I was scolded for losing my temper. Not that I hold anything against my parents, because I really was a little shit. Back then my anger-anxiety looked like me losing my temper all the time. When I lost a video game, I would throw the controller. When my sister teased me, I would hit her. Tiny triggers were huge triggers, and my level of anger-anxiety varied from moment to moment.<\/p>\n
Now, with the help of medication, my anger-anxiety is more subtle, but still debilitating at times. Anxiety makes me snap a response without thinking and what I say sounds way different in my head than it did coming out of my mouth so I think about it constantly for several days, but I am also too anxious to correct what I said in the first place. It\u2019s a snowball effect that can get out of control. When I talk negatively, complain, or rant, that\u2019s usually anxiety. Even as I type this, my chest feels like it is being stepped on by a stiletto heel. That\u2019s anxiety.<\/p>\n
Originally published: https:\/\/themighty.com\/2017\/06\/anxiety-presents-as-anger\/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Mighty_Page<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have been anxious for as long as I can remember. I grew from an awkward and anxious child to an awkward and anxious adult. As a teenager I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, but it was only as an adult that I learned more about what it actually means to be anxious. Having…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n