19 Things I’m Too Anxious To Say (In GIFs)

No matter how confident we are, we all have moments in which a tightening stomach warns us not to open our mouths and share our thoughts. Well, most of us anyway (Trump I’m looking at you). This intuition normally kicks in for good reason – to avoid a social faux pas and/or hurting other people’s feelings in some way. Yet for the socially anxious ones reading this, I’m betting your list of times you’re mouth has remained shut when a thought has popped into your head is a lot longer; it’s like having a stronger brain-to-mouth filter, one which can sometimes resemble a brick wall. Nothing is getting through there; no words seem safe enough and silence feels secure.

But are the phrases that get stuck in our throats the same the world over? This is what I’m curious about today, so I thought I’d share some of the things anxiety has stopped me saying in the past – and what better way to do this than through the power and humour of GIFs…

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A Day In The Life Of Anxiety ft. AutumnSkies

Before we launch into today’s little post, I just wanted to say thank you to James for featuring me as a guest blogger on his site. I wrote a new Conversations With Anxiety post all about the struggle to allow yourself time to relax in a world where productivity is prioritised. So if that spikes your interest, go have a peek over there ❤

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They say there are always two sides to the same story; this is painfully obvious when it comes to sharing your head with anxiety. If you read my blog regularly, you’ll be familiar with my Conversations With Anxiety series which are dialogues I have with ‘Anxiety’ in everyday situations. I write these as a way of shedding light on the power an anxious voice in the back of your head can have over your actions and decisions, even during the seemingly mundane moments of life. These conversations tend to focus on snapshot moments: perhaps a five minute period from a day isolated from the rest of my existence.

At The Bank – Conversations With Anxiety #06

Snapshots of the conversations that are had between anxiety and I: the things we fight over, the discussions and debates we take part in and the struggle to reason with irrationality. Some of these are based on past events or reoccurring battles, some on more recent occasions, and some are simply extrapolations of experiences I’ve had.

Anxiety: It looks empty in there, I don’t think we should go in.

Me: That’s a good thing, it means we’ll get served faster.

Anxiety: Hmm, actually it just means more attention on us.

Me: Not really, the staff are all busy doing their own thing.

Anxiety: You think? You sure they’re not all just standing around waiting for us to come in? So they can stare and listen to every word we say?

Starbucks Sickness – Conversations With Anxiety #04

Snapshots of the conversations that are had between anxiety and I: the things we fight over, the discussions and debates we take part in and the struggle to reason with irrationality. Some of these are based on past events or reoccurring battles, some on more recent occasions, and some are simply extrapolations of experiences I’ve had.

Anxiety: Oh my god, what was that.

Me: Nothing, it was nothing.

Anxiety: Was that a wave of nausea?

Me: No, we’re fine.

Anxiety: Nope that was definitely a feeling of sickness. What if we throw up? In the middle of Starbucks.

Job Hunting – Conversations With Anxiety #02

Snapshots of the conversations that are had between anxiety and I: the things we fight over, the discussions and debates we take part in and the struggle to reason with irrationality. Some of these are based on past events or reoccurring battles, some on more recent occasions, and some are simply extrapolations of experiences I’ve had.

Me: Ohh, that cafe has a sign in the window! Hopefully it’s for a job.

Anxiety: Nah, it won’t be, they never have job adverts up.

Me: Well they must do sometimes, they can’t keep the same staff forever.

Anxiety: Of course they can! Come on, let’s go home.

Me: But we haven’t even given out one CV yet, and that’s what we came to town to do.