Anxiety

Anxiety

Anxiety is the expectation of future threat, a feeling of fear, uneasiness, and worry . . . generalized as an overreaction to a situation.

Although I have been afflicted with bouts of depression for what seems like most of my life, when my first husband suddenly passed away, I was diagnosed with restlessness and anxiety.

Grief is a powerful emotion that will take a person through an exhaustive range of phases that feels like a perpetual roller coaster that never stops. What it did for me is realize that I have lived with restlessness and anxiety most of my life when I thought it was depression.

In my case, it was a learned thing. I was raised by and lived with two wonderful Italian ladies, my mom and my nana, who were afflicted with worrying about everything. They passed it on to me . . . I learned how to worry as a routine part of living life. As time goes on, my worry has accelerated to the point of interfering with living a normal life.

Worrying, a simple and innocent trait in many of us, can contribute to an unhealthy mental state. By all means, it does not mean that a person who worries is “crazy.”

Since my first husband passed away over two decades ago, I have picked my brain and emotions, asked myself the questions a psychotherapist would ask in order to understand, learn how to cope with it and live a normal life through understanding. I’m still asking myself questions!

Whether your life has been touched by mental health disorders personally or through someone you love, it is not something to sweep under the rug and hope it will go away. It must be understood and you need to learn how to cope with it before you live what is considered a “normal” life.