Am I caring too much about what people think of me?

[beth1290]

Hi Everyone,

I feel that maybe one of the reasons for my anxiety and panic attacks is due to me caring too much about what people think about me. I have started to believe that if people knew I was suffering from panic attacks then they would think less of me and assume that I was a weak person and this is what has made my anxiety progress so much. I think I sometimes want to appear as perfect to people which is stupid because nobody is perfect. My anxiety and panic attacks feed on my fear of showing fear and I believe this is the reason for it. Does anyone else feel similar? Do you think people would think less of me if they knew?

Much love
Beth xx

[lajjj]

i have found that telling people makes things easier...alot of ppl dont understand but its amazin how many ppl actually admit to suffering from anxiety themselves! the worst part about anxiety is trying to hide it , it just makes things worse. ppl with anxiety are not weak at all! you have to be strong to deal with it. ppl get frustrated because they cant understand it but i think its more important to get better than it is to spend your life trying to swallow it! good luck xxx

[calm]

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii beth xxxxxx people wont think less of you....they may not understand fully and that is the hard part xxxxxxx

no, nobody is perfect but we all do worry about these things xxxxx you are not alone xxxxxxx

[Vanilla Sky]

You can never know what other people are thinking so why bother making up stuff in your head that they MIGHT be thinking !
If someone told you they had anxiety , what would you think ? Even before we had anxiety , we would not think they were weak i am sure .
Just be yourself hun , you know who you trust and don't trust , go by your instinct

:) Paige xx

[beth1290]

Thank you all for your replies. They make me realise I am not alone and are a HUGE help. I only joined this site a couple of days ago and it is already making me feel so much better. Lajjj - Yes it probably would help if I told people, I told my boyfriend about a year ago and I don't feel any anxiety when I am with him at all :) xxx

[PanicOver!!]

Hi Beth

I know exactly how you feel and am sure this is the cause of a lot of anxiety.
When my anxiety and panic attacks were at thier worst I had a fear of having a heart attack but it wasn't the fear of dying that caused the anxiety more the scene I would cause if I had one in a public place.
The thing is everyone cares what others think but when you feel you are having a bad time look around and you will see nobody even notices.
While it's important what others think of us it's far more important what we think of ourselves. Beater of luck and hugs.

Marc x