Can we please talk about this explosion of anxiety? Five years ago, I only knew a few people other than myself who had anxiety. Now, everyone has it. There’s a difference between nervousness and anxiety. Nervousness is NOT an anxiety disorder. Over the last year, I’ve seen a LOT of articles circulating about anxiety. And they all summarize anxiety really similarly. “She didn’t text me back immediately so I thought our friendship was over. This is how bad my anxiety is.” “I was so anxious at work it took me two days to respond to an email.” “[Later,] I spent an entire party on my phone because I was too anxious to socialize.” “I kept going over our conversation in my head, worried that I had said something that potentially could have offended her.” By these definitions, EVERYONE has an anxiety disorder and should be popping Xanax left and right.…
