Anxiety Doesn't Let Me Be Happy

It's hard to be happy when you struggle with anxiety. Anxiety, in and of itself, contradicts happiness. If you think about it, when you're happy, you're experiencing positive emotions. But when you're anxious, you're experiencing fear, uncertainty, worry, and doubt.

And so, trying to be happy can be difficult. I've found that I go through periods where I feel happy, and then my brain starts to redirect itself right back toward anxiety. It's almost as though my brain purposely denies me the experience of joy.

This is not to say that I'm not a happy person. On the contrary, I feel extremely blessed and thankful for so many things in my life. However, it is sometimes difficult to maintain happiness when anxiety is often creeping around the corner. So, I have to be constantly mindful and prepared to cope with the anxiety that sometimes seeps in for no apparent reason.

How I Experience Happiness When I'm Anxious

As someone who struggles with anxiety, I have to be mindful of managing my emotions. This is constantly a work in progress, but I continuously remind myself that I am putting in the work and that it is important that I do so to lessen the effects of my anxiety. These are specific strategies that I use to help reduce it and allow myself to experience joy:

1. I count my blessings. I've found that using logic is often helpful for me to cope with anxiety. Systematically looking at things helps me organize information in my mind and see things using a rational perspective rather than the chaotic one that anxiety often leads me toward. So, I will logically take stock of all of the wonderful things I am blessed with in my life, such as my family, my health, and my career.
2. I stay focused on the moment. As it always tends to help keep me grounded, I use mindfulness by staying focused intentionally on the present moment rather than thinking about reasons I should not feel happy. Often, I've experienced that as soon as I feel happiness, anxiety starts to point out several reasons that I shouldn't feel happy. Instead, focusing on the here and now helps to keep my mind from wandering in that direction.
3. I use self-affirmations to combat doubt that creeps in. Self-affirmations help boost my self-confidence and reduce self-doubt that I may feel that gets in the way of experiencing happiness.
4. I focus on the joy that I feel. When I start feeling anxious during times of happiness, I focus specifically on the joy that I am experiencing instead of the anxiety symptoms. I remind myself that I deserve to experience joy like anyone else.

Learn more about experiencing happiness with anxiety here:

What do you do to help yourself experience happiness even when you are anxious? Share your strategies in the comments below.