Better Understand Your Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety can feel overwhelming and difficult to describe. Breaking it down into different categories can help you to understand what you’re feeling, feel more in control, and communicate with others. Below, we’ll go through some of the common categories of anxiety symptoms. Take note of which are most common for you. These might be helpful tools as you work to increase your awareness of patterns and responses.

Thought-Related Symptoms of Anxiety

One aspect of your anxiety to notice is your thoughts. When you are anxious, what thoughts are running to your mind? What are they like - are they critical, gentle, logical, illogical? Take a moment to write down some of the thoughts you notice. As you increase your awareness of your thoughts, some patterns might emerge. You might notice some thoughts coming up over and over in different situations. This process of awareness can help you to understand what is leading to the feeling of anxiety, as well as some beliefs underneath these thoughts.

Emotional Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety can come with multiple emotions attached. While fear is commonly associated with anxiety, other emotions can be involved too. This could be anger, grief, shame, or more. When you’re feeling anxious, take a moment to notice what is showing up emotionally for you, or what you may have been feeling prior to the anxiety. This will require you to slow down, which can be difficult when you’re feeling anxious. Be gentle with yourself throughout this process.

Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety can often show up in physical symptoms. These include nausea, feelings of warmth or cold, lightheadedness, trembling, or upset stomach. For some people, these feel intense and difficult to ignore, while for others these are more subtle. As you build your awareness of your anxiety, you can begin to notice how your body reacts to it, which also gives you more opportunities to take care of yourself when anxiety rears its head.

Everyone experiences anxiety differently; some of these symptoms might show up strongly for you, while others never appear. Learning to acknowledge the different aspects of your own experience is a huge step in the journey of self-awareness and understanding. From this self-awareness, you can learn to ground, cope, and speak to yourself in a way that alleviates the distress that often accompanies anxiety.