How Does Anxiety Show Up for You?

With anxiety we can use different words that describe our experience of it.  Our personal experiences are just that – personal.  And yet, there is a familiarity / connection when we deeply listen to each other. 

TYPE 1

“When I feel anxiety, I feel it sort of like pins and needles across my chest and arm pits.  Breathing moves to my chest.  My heart feels like a brick.  Throbbing in ears (especially with AirPods in) and clenched jaw.  My shoulders rise hunched and get tight.  In my head, I’m thinking “everything I do/done is wrong”.  

TYPE 2

“I typically experience anxiety throughout my nervous system. Often all over my body like a “stress blanket”.  It’s a heat sensation, a prickly sensation and it can be a heaviness too. I feel it mostly on my chest and thighs, a bit on my stomach and arms. My limbs get heavy. But depending on the situation and who is involved, it can be anywhere connected to my nervous system – parts of the head, or my throat, etc. If it lasts for days such as with a very bad situation, it will settle in my lower back (unless I physically burn it off with exercise).”

TYPE 3

“When I have anxiety, my stomach constantly feels like it’s in my chest and my heart is racing.  I can’t focus, my mind is racing and I’m extremely jittery. Sometimes I have to walk in circles to calm down.  I also feel like I can’t/and won’t be able to get anything done. Like a hopeless feeling of being stuck and having no way out. This also feeds into an ultimate anxiety of me feeling I won’t be able to achieve or accomplish anything in my life.


TYPE 4

“I experience anxiety like a constant shifting between all of my body parts- nothing stays still- so I often grow extremely fidgety and usually don’t make eye contact.”  I recently drew a picture of myself at the bottom of a cup looking up at fizzy water with bubbles rising to the surface.  That’s what my anxiety looks like when it is really intense.  Heart:  embarrassed, raw, or closed  Mind:  scattered, fearful, like being pulled underwater and not knowing which direction is up or down.

TYPE 5

“What makes me nervous is that people will not like what I have written or what I say or the project I propose.  It is quite an annoying feeling because it slows down the process of sharing what has been drafted and acquiring input essential to completing projects in a good way. This feeling is accompanied by: tingling in the front of my head; restless feet which includes curling toes and  tapping feet; and shame in my heart that this isn’t good enough and I’m not good enough.”


TYPE 6

“When anxious the first thing I notice is that  I take a quick, shallow breath. I notice my heart beating faster and my arms tighten around me as if I’m holding myself in or bracing for something to happen.”


TYPE 7

“When I feel anxiety, I feel contracted, fast, short breath, amped up, overwhelm, clamped down chest/heart, sharp but scattered focus in thoughts and actions. Push energy. “life is hard” :)”

TYPE 8

“I experience anxiety with a lot in the body.  My stomach will start to tighten to squeeze making it feel like my insides are constricting.  I usually have a tendency for my throat to feel like there is something in it, again constricting me. Once I notice I am in anxiety my head goes through whatever plans or tricks it can think of to try to get me out but the key is in being aware and noticing.”


TYPE 9

“I feel anxious when I’m “in the way” of others, which is ultimately believing I don’t deserve to take up space. In everyday life this looks like driving with hyper-awareness of my speed and position to other cars, when I am in the grocery store, I make sure I’m not blocking an aisle or taking too long to pick a product. I feel extremely anxious if I’m late for an appointment, and it takes a lot to send back a meal that’s not right.”

Spots are filling fast for our January class, “The Enneagram: A Compass to Navigate These Anxious Times.  Click here to join us in January 2021:  https://bit.ly/2JMUIsH