How Anxiety Works

(Image found at Farewell Anxiety)

A few months ago I wrote about what it's like to have a depression spell. Today I want to talk about what having an anxiety attack feels like.

For me, anxiety is like being in thrown into a lions’ den, like Daniel in the Bible. Even though I’m nervous at first, I quickly tell myself, “I know how this story ends. The lions won’t eat me.” The guards seal the mouth of the den shut, and the lions slowly creep towards me, licking their lips. I wait patiently as the lions get closer. They start smelling and licking me. “Okay, God,” I think, “you can come and save me now.” One of the lions gently nibbles on my arm, the way a cat does, except I can’t tap a lion on the head and say, “Bad kitty!” I slowly back away from the lions, but the move closer. I climb up a rock as they law me, scratching up my legs in the process. I pound on the rock cover the mouth of the den and scream, “For God’s sake, get me out of here! I was wrong about the whole ‘God’s going to save me’ thing, okay? Hello? Is anybody there? Get me out!”

Meanwhile the guards outside the den say to each other, “Did you hear something? No? Okay.”