I feel claustrophobic

About life, what i need to be & need to do. What my life should be like, the day in day out motion. Every hour of my day is constantly suppressing feeling of anxiety that pops up.

I try to keep it under wraps, to not worry my friends and family. To not wallow on it too much, not to be overwhelmed by it.

I'm usually the person people go to for advice, for help, for guidance, or just reassurance. Its kinda hard to open up to them. Although, it would be lie to say its all about them. I do think i don't want to acknowledge it cause it would make my false sense of stability and normalcy collapse.

My heart feels heavy, as "cringe" or melodramatic that sounds, feels like a hand is gripping to it.

I want to be content, not even super happy. I want to be cozy and semi-free.

Don't want to be too nihilistic but the world seems pretty bleak, but i try not to over think too much.

How do you deal with feeling of anxiety? Or just how do you keep going, besides just trying to drown out the emotions with never ending stream of entertainment.

Sorry for the long read, thanks for any reply :)

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LucyRose · 22-25, F

First you need to validate your emotions because it's okay to feel this way. Around this age I think lots of people feel the same. When you are feeling anxiety I think something you can do is breathe, inhale for 3 seconds and then exhale, you can do it for more time if you want. Do it 3 times in a row. When you're feeling overwhelmed, or having high levels of anxiety you can practice this so, the anxiety levels decrease. Tell me if this helps you😊

FloatingAcrossTheStream · 18-21, M

@LucyRose Thank you for the advice ! Yeah, it's pretty common for our age range to have heavy anxiety/worries about the future. It's hard to avoid.

I accept my feelings, and i acknowledge that it's okay to have them. The issue is that i dont let them about so it's not helping. Im trying to fix it slowly but surely.

Thanks for the breathing exercises, unfortunately they dont help me based on previous experience. The only method that works is hyping myself up, or rationalizing why its okay to feel this way and why nothing bad is going to happen.

Thanks again, have a great day !