Anxiety is a normal, even common emotion. We experience it whenever we are exposed to a troublesome or uncomfortable situation. If you have to speak in front of a group of people you have probably experienced it. When you met your girlfriend´s parents you may have experienced it. When you were walking home alone late at night and heard footsteps behind you, you may have experienced it.
 
It´s a feeling that comes and goes with the terrain but when you do experience it you work through it, bite your lower lip and tough it out. That´s what most people do at any rate. For some people the physical sensations and the mental thoughts become so overwhelming that they experience intense panic.
 
This fear has physical sensations that are so powerful that they may be rendered speechless; unable to breathe, experience such a rapid heartbeat that they feel their heart is going to explode or other problems.

Excessive anxiety, triggered by seemingly normal events can cause such a lack of confidence, that engaging in normal, everyday activities becomes difficult, if not impossible. It’s unclear why some people experience these feelings while others do not.
 
A firefighter can run into a burning building and save a life but you can’t choose which head of broccoli looks best in the store without feeling your heart race? This doesn´t make any sense, at least until you look to some of the causes for panic.
  
For people who struggle with excessive worry, the personality type they have inherited from their parents can contribute to their tendency to worry. This predisposition to worry exists like a ticking time bomb. In some people it goes off because of triggering events and in some people the bomb never goes off.
 
Your inherited personality type and childhood environment are the long term factors that determine how you will respond to stress but the short term causes are what trigger the release of excessive anxiety in your life. Short term causes can be any number of things. For some people, this will be the loss of a spouse, child or family member, for other people it could be the loss of a job or the end of an important relationships.
 
Seemingly happy events can also cause stress triggers such as having a baby, getting married or moving. These changes bring about significant changes in your life and can increase your stress and worry.
 
Once anxiety has been allowed to creep through that open door, it is hard to get rid of.  It´s very hard to tell how you will respond to any given event. Losing a child, spouse or family member is shattering for everyone. Everyone responds to this personal loss with great sorrow, anxiety and depression.
 
Many people are eventually able to go on, struggle through the day and regain their former life. The suffering is normal and part of life. What´s not normal is that anxiety so overwhelms you for such a long period of time that you can´t engage in anything anymore.

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Generalized Anxiety Disorder or GAD for short is usually diagnosed by a doctor through a process of elimination based on the symptoms you present. It is a hard condition to diagnose because many of the symptoms related to this problem can also be present in other conditions.
 
This problem involves severe anxiety over a period of at least six months but you don’t have to contend with panic attacks or other problems related to phobias and obsessions. When struggling with GAD, you have persistent, excessive worry over at least two aspects of your life although most sufferers find they deal with many more troubling thoughts. 

The stress for GAD sufferers usually focuses on money, health, relationships or school or job performance. The worry that you feel is not just occasional and related to specific events like an interview or a coming promotion but persistent, excessive and time consuming. 

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Do you have excessive or unwanted anxiety? Do you wish you were more confident and relaxed? Do you want to be able to take on new situations and experiences without fear?
 
If you suffer from any kind of worry there are ways to soothe yourself, calm yourself and relax your mind. Confidence and self esteem are the ways we get noticed in our society. Employers hire and promote confident, engaging people more readily and confident men and women find dating and meeting potential mates a lot easier. There are so many facets of life where fear can hamper you. Getting rid of or controlling the apprehension can have a profoundly positive effect on your life.

Anxiety is our body´s normal reaction to uncomfortable stimulus. Uneasiness can crop up in a wide variety of situations, some of them common, some of them not. You could become exceptionally nervous when talking to your boss, talking to a pretty girl or handsome guy or driving to work.
 
You can experience anxiety anywhere; in the supermarket, at the movie theater, at your friends wedding or at your child´s school play. You could have a panic attack at the hair salon, while getting a manicure or talking to friends.
 
Anxiety is not simply fear. Fear is a focused, directed feeling about a person, object or event that could possibly occur. You´re afraid when you walk in a dark alley alone at night. You are afraid when you´re child is seriously ill in the hospital. These are rational, concrete things to be fearful of. The angst you are struggling with is often an undefined feeling; you really can´t focus in on exactly what you are so worried about.

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