Dear people who don’t understand (my anxiety)

To the people who tell me it’s all in my head and to just get over it. I know you mean well and probably don’t understand how much your ignorance hurts.

To the people who say “you have anxiety?! There’s no way, You look so put together.”, I appreciate the compliment. But you didn’t see the melt down I had before I left the house, how long it took me to pick out the “perfect” outfit and put my makeup on.

To all the people who tell me I should smile more, because I would look prettier. You can’t feel how my chest starts to hurt or how my heart rate speeds up as I near a panic attack. You don’t understand that some days, just going out is a win. And those are usually the days that I had to try my hardest to just show up.

To all the people who don’t understand because they’ve never gone through it, that’s ok! I won’t be angry if you ask me about my anxiety. But please, next time, don’t be so quick to judge me.