How other people see your anxiety?

Anxiety is natural, common, and nothing to be ashamed of. Anxiety is a very normal part of being human, and we all experience it on some level from time to time. We all have our ‘stuff’, and anxiety is just one that many of us will struggle with from time to time. If someone close to you is experiencing anxiety, there may be signs. Sometimes they may be obvious. Sometimes, they may make their way into the shared space between you in more subtle ways. But still, there are times where you want to control how you're perceived, and anxiety gets in the way. Not everyone knows that those who suffer from anxiety are the first to feel uncomfortable with others, indeed very often it is perceived as if someone wants to feel at the centre of attention. The others when you are seized by a strong anxiety attack do not always know what to do, or what to say, so sometimes they distance themselves from us even without being aware of it. From those around us, the perception of our anxiety is different from how we perceive it, especially if they do not know what it means. From the outside the most frequent thought that comes to mind is "exaggerated by some anxiety", "it’s all a mental thing", "all this makes no sense". As with anything that’s happening in the lives of the people we love, it is when anxiety is misunderstood or ignored that it can do the most damage.