Several Black Women Describe How Living With Anxiety Feels
“Hyperventilating, dizziness, sweaty palms, heart racing, pacing the floor, irritability, and feeling that fight or flight response kicking in all at once. Very scary. Completely draining and scary, “ Misha T.
“It feels like (to me) jumping jelly beans within my body trying to get out,” Leslie A.
“It usually makes my heart race. It can easily send my heart rate to 200 (sometimes more) bmp and stay that way for 30 minutes or so. I can’t function when this happens and have to lie down. It can take as long as 2 hrs for my heart to beat at a normal pace again,” Kim Z.
“Everything coming at you all at once. Like a car accident, you see coming but can’t avoid,” Brianna S.
“Impending doom, fear, dizziness, headache, racing heart, skipped heart beats, heart flutters, confusion, extreme tension in the body along with frozen shoulders, hot flashes, sweaty palms, cold feet, trembling, muscle twitches, feeling as if you’re dying,” Tonya P.
“Anxiety makes me feel nervous as I lose my appetite and focus. It feels like waiting for the worst to happen.” Nijiama S.
Anxiety is an intense emotion that mirrors dread, fear, or uneasiness.
Anxiety can be a reaction to stress or pressure, like when faced with a difficult situation. However, anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive and persistent feelings of fear and anxiety that can interfere with daily life. It can be extremely difficult to live with anxiety. The more intense and often, the more it makes life unbearable. It can be crippling at times making it difficult to speak in public or attend social gatherings.
Black women have high rates of anxiety; the stresses and worries that we must deal with daily as well as the trauma and fears our ancestors passed to us in utero throughout the generations attribute to the reason that anxiety is often more severe and persistent in Black women– this what I refer to as Black Girl Anxiety.
There is hope. You do not have to suffer. Please visit a therapist who specializes in anxiety.
Become a member to get access to a wide variety of resources to help you manage anxiety as well as unite with a community of Black women who are dealing with anxiety to gain support. First week is free. Cancel at any time. Try our community forum.
