Writing Prompt: Anxiety

Normally, for writing prompts, I take the moment to write something fictional. But with anxiety as my writing prompt, I wanted to write something a bit more soul-baring.

Anxiety is one of those things you don’t see coming until it’s upon you. You’re sitting there laughing and joking around, and the next thing you know, it feels like your chest is caving in and you can’t breathe.

For some, it’s completely debilitating, and for others, it’s a minor annoyance from time to time. However, no matter how you look at it, anxiety affects a large group of people.

How do we handle it? For some, we try to logic our way through the panic or anxiousness. We breathe a bit deeper and look for stabilizing things around us. Other times, we may find ourselves needed medicinal assistance.

The important thing is that you’re dealing with your anxiety in a healthy way.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of not wanting to burden others with your problems. Maybe you feel that you’ve leaned on them enough or maybe you just don’t want to call them at 3 am when it hits you. So, you isolate. You pretend you’re fine, and you work through it any way you know how.

But that just leads to more anxiety, more attacks, and more isolation.

In the past few months, I have been struggling with anxiety on a level I have not experienced before. At first, I worked through it and isolated. Then, I started bringing my friends into it. Then, when I realized it was still too much, I got medicine. But at this point, I’m trying to undo all the walls I built up over the past few months of isolation.

I buried myself in my work, in my book, in activities, and although, sometimes, it really worked, I realize now how far down the rabbit hole I’ve gone.

But it’s time to turn it around. It’s time to make healthy decisions. It’s time for me to be honest with myself and with those around me.

Sometimes, I’m not okay. And that’s okay. Sometimes, I get so overwhelmed that I feel as though I can’t breathe, and you know what is able to ground me? Friends. Family. And watching old interviews with Chris Evans on Youtube… And the Hamilton Soundtrack.

There’s not much that Hamilton and Chris Evans don’t fix.

Over the last week or so, I’ve been reading more and more on Twitter of people discussing their anxiety and stress. They ask if anyone else is feeling that way, and I can see their relief when they realize they’re not alone.

So, I’m here to tell you, you’re not alone. Not by a long shot. There are people out there who struggle daily, and some that only struggle when getting on an airplane. It’s different for everyone.

But no matter our triggers, we’re all putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward. Because we matter. We matter to this world. We matter to ourselves. We matter to our family and friends. And in my imagination, we matter to Chris Evans.

You matter. So, no matter what you’re going through, no matter the fears or anxieties you’re facing right now, hang in there. Reach out to someone (probably not Chris Evans, he’s probably tough to reach), and just tell them where you’re at. Find that support group to help you get to the next day.

And if you don’t have someone you feel will listen, reach out to me. I’m available to help in anyway I can… though I should warn you, it usually comes in uncomfortable sarcastic quips.

writing prompts anxiety Chris Evans Depression family friends hamilton Panic struggles support writing writing prompt