Teenage Anxiety

Remember those cold feet combined with sweating palms even in a comparatively not so contrasting weather, that funny nauseating feeling in the pit of your stomach pushing you to the brink of puking for no apparent reason or the constant numbing of senses or blackouts inside our heads even in broad daylight. Honestly, these were consistent sensations for me in my non-social distancing days. And now sometimes they even chase me in my ‘conspiring’ head. “I am just overthinking”, I am quite sure we all have either heard or said this phrase at least once in our life. So, if it’s that common can we consider it natural?

Emotions are natural. Worry, nervousness, fear are all part of a package called life. When we can accept it’s gifts of happiness, giddiness, excitement then how can we deny its vastness and the cons? Maybe to protect ourselves we just need to make a deal with all of it, our reasoning and logic are the traits that are truly indispensable because there are times when emotions make a pawn of our life. Understanding this, we need to acknowledge that when a person experiences uncontrolled overwhelming feelings in daily activities, it may even affect their reasoning. They need our help and support rather than the laughs and scrutinizing eyes.

Most of the firsts of our lives have the perks of these infamous sensations. Before your first stage performance, talking to a classmate on your first day of middle school (In the primary years, generally there is just the requirement of a sand castle or lunchbox between two pairs of curious hands), confessing to your first love, a job interview, attending a party without your comfort crowd or maybe when you are waiting for your test results, one way or the other anxiety finds unique ways to show itself in our lives. But these instances are also significant because they are the little things that give colors to our story. They are normal. Anxiety as a mental disorder takes its shape and causes abnormalities precisely when a person goes overboard and starts imagining extreme possibilities and may start acting on them or even when they develop a dangerous instinct to harm another soul or themselves with their presumptions.

“Ignorance is bliss”, This quote may be applicable to certain situations that teens face and can even become their mantra otherwise it’s another excuse of a dormant conscience. As these hormones kick in it is as if the revelation day for the (according to most adults) most narcissistic beings on earth. Extreme self consciousness can be the reason for overthinking simplest of deeds and developing mental disorders. The reasons may vary and that may differentiate the cure but if there is a presence of someone a teen can talk to, rely upon and an adult who shares their experience at least for once not to belittle their growing counterparts rather to genuinely connect. If every family produces such a member the young hearts will undoubtedly be confident enough to cope with their insecurities and bloom.