You may know that you are anxious but may not have a clear sense of how and when you feel anxious. Your muscles become tense and uncomfortable, your thoughts race or freeze up, your heart races, your breathing speeds up, and your emotions become agitated or numb. You then either push yourself even harder or you start to avoid certain situations. Anxiety can be signal or noise. It is important to decide whether your anxiety is signaling you to take certain problem solving measures or whether your anxiety is just distracting, unproductive noise because you already have done what you need to or have the power to do about a particular situation or concern.
Anxiety is what it is - uncomfortable, distressed feelings and thoughts.
You have anxious thoughts and feelings that can be tolerated and managed. You are not your anxious thoughts and feelings. Use this anxiety symptom checklist to assess ways that you experience anxiety. Or, at least, attitude has a lot to do with it. Life can be difficult.