I suffer with high functioning anxiety. Externally, I project an image of 'Got my life together'. But internally, I'm overwhelmed by almost everything. From the moment I wake up, I'm battling the worry of getting today right; of providing my kids with the life they deserve and being a generally OK Mum. I worry about meeting my son's additional needs; about not doing enough, or being enough. And how my overwhelming emotions bear on my kids, especially my impressionable near-teen, who's battled social anxiety and tics since she was very little. I fret over their education, which I took on by not sending them to school. I question if I'm capable of giving them what they need to conquer the world.
But then I look at them, happy at home, without the immense pressures of life. And I push those niggling doubts aside, so's not to cast shadows over the beautiful memories that we're making together.
Does it mean the fears are gone? No. But when I'm worrying about being a good Mum, or wife, a good friend or person to work with, I do try to step back and take in the bigger picture. I ask myself (sometimes out loud which really confuses the person I was mid-conversation with): Is the world about to stop spinning? Probably not. Is someone about to run at me with a machete? Again, probably (and hopefully!) not. Is it going to become illegal to wear matching socks? Oh, let's hope not because that would be pretty horrific! Ridiculous questions are my escape from the overwhelming, almost burning, surges of anxiety. They help me put things into perspective (yes, a crazy perspective is still a perspective!) And though the worries will always be there, this coping strategy works for me. Try it! And be sure to check out these 53 heartfelt quotes on coping with anxiety to cheer up your day!
53 Heartfelt Quotes On Coping With Anxiety
“As long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than wrong with you, no matter what is wrong.” - Jon Kabat-Zinn
"This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they've never been." - Glennon Doyle
“Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.” - Robert Tew
"Creating something is what helped me from just spinning apart like an unweighted flywheel. And I haven’t stopped since." - Stephen Colbert
“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.” - Sylvia Plath
“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” - Virginia Woolf
“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.” - David Mamet
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” - Anne Lamott
“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths.” - C.H. Spurgeon
“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” - Oprah Winfrey
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” - Soren Kierkegaard
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." - Nelson Mandela
“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
“P.S. You’re not going to die. Here’s the white-hot truth: if you go bankrupt, you’ll still be okay. If you lose the gig, the lover, the house, you’ll still be okay. If you sing off-key, get beat by the competition, have your heart shattered, get fired…it’s not going to kill you. Ask anyone who’s been through it.” - Danielle LaPorte
“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” - Epictetus
“Everything you have ever wanted, is sitting on the other side of fear.” - George Addair
“Breathe, darling. This is just a chapter. It’s not your whole story.” - S.C. Lourie
“Not everything that weighs you down is yours to carry.” - Unknown
“Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.” - Theodore Roosevelt
“Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety; after all it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly.” - Ali Ibn Abi Talib
“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” - Jodi Picoult
“Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it— just as we have learned to live with storms.” - Paulo Coelho
“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” - Mandy Hale
“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” - Deepak Chopra
"I think the more people vocalize what they're going through — their experience or just simply educating themselves so that they can learn more about what they're talking about — that's going to be the key to creating a conversation about mental illness and making it more understood." - Demi Lovato
“Rule No. 1 is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule No. 2 is, it’s all small stuff.” - Robert Eliot
"The tough times, the days when you're just a ball on the floor — they'll pass. You're playing the long game, and life is totally worth it." - Sarah Silverman
"Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow." - Swedish Proverb
“You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.” - Dan Millman
“If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The way you tell your story to yourself matters.” - Amy Cuddy
“We just need to be kinder to ourselves. If we treated ourselves the way we treated our best friend, can you imagine how much better off we would be?” - Meghan Markle
“No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past.” - Karen Salmansohn
“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” - William S. Burroughs
“Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.” - Grenville Kleiser
“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles.” - Charlie Chaplin
“It’s perfectly okay to admit you’re not okay.” - Unknown
“Mantra for Anxiety: This is not you. This is something moving through you. It can leave out of the same door it came in.” - James Clear
"We all have mental health in the same way that we all have physical health. It’s okay to have depression, it’s okay to have anxiety, it’s okay to have an adjustment disorder." - Prince Harry
“If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.” - Yogi Berra
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you feel like you’re losing everything, remember trees lose their leaves every year and they stand tall and wait for better days to come.” - Unknown
“Be healthy and take care of yourself, but be happy with the beautiful things that make you, you.” - Beyoncé
“Let your mind and heart rest for a while. You will catch up, the world will not stop spinning for you, but you will catch up. Take a rest.” - Cynthia Go
“Worrying is like walking around with an umbrella waiting for the rain.” - Unknown
“Sometimes the best thing you can do is not think, not wonder, not imagine, not obsess. Just breathe and have faith that everything will work out for the best.” - Unknown
"As I started opening up and talking about my issues, I felt strength, not vulnerability." - Michael Phelps
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” - Sydney J. Harris
"Anxiety is something that is part of me but it’s not who I am." - Emma Stone
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” - Brené Brown
“Surrender to what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.” - Sonia Ricotti
“Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you because it will.” - Cheryl Strayed
“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” - Steve Maraboli
