Anxiety for me is sitting in bed before work, convincing myself to walk out of my room and figure out how exactly to speak to my housemates that I've known for years. It's driving to work, thinking about all the things that could go wrong with my car on the way there and the phone call to my supervisors that would steal my breath, telling them I may not be coming in tonight because my vehicle is potentially unreliable, therefore I am unreliable. It's getting to my workstation, even after the nth time doing this, and my hands still shake so bad I drop my pen, the stapler, my paperwork. Can't seem to focus. Where did my pen go? People are watching me. They think I'm stupid. What was I doing? I'm going too slow. Where is that stupid pen? Anxiety for me is being unable to eat in the break room unless I'm sitting in a corner by myself because people might think the way I'm eating is weird. It's desperately needing a cigarette to calm myself down, but people in the smoke room are watching me, I can feel it. My mouth goes dry, and it's hard to swallow. I chew my bottom lip to shreds. It's walking back across the casino floor, trying my hardest to avoid eye contact or, god forbid, a question. It's fidgeting with my clothes, constantly making sure my zipper is up, my pants aren't crooked, my shirt is tucked, my vest is completely buttoned, my socks aren't showing, the fucking tongues of my shoes are straight. People might laugh and talk about me if not. It's being told by my coworker that I "always laugh at everything she does," so I desperately try to balance my laughter with silence for 8 hours, because I get asked if something is wrong when I don't talk at all. Anxiety is going to leave work at night and needing to tell everyone goodbye because leaving people out might make them think I don't like them, but my tone comes out strange with just that one word, so I dwell on it for the whole 35 minute drive home, wondering how their attitudes will change with me the next night. It's when I get home and one of my housemates locks the top bolt that I don't have a key to, but I refuse to knock and wake them up because they will hate me, so I text them, hoping one is awake or I will sit outside for however long it takes. It's being unable to answer the door when someone knocks or the phone when someone calls. It's telling myself in these situations that this is anxiety, just my mind blowing situations out of proportion, but not being able to stop the feelings of dread or worry. It makes me do ridiculous things and stops me from enjoying most of my life, but what else can I really do but just try to get through it one minute at a time? And sometimes anxiety is just sitting alone in my bedroom with not a thing to do, no people around, and my heart just starts going wild, my hands shake and sweat, and the air is barely making it to my lungs, so I have to close my eyes and focus on nothing but trying to breathe.