So my MC has some serious anxiety. Now I have anxiety myself mostly having to do with time, being early to work and have a routine set up through the day, or driving, and thinking negatively all the time thinking of the "What ifs". I know that there is different types of Anxiety, such as one with change, such as she has to do when her apartment is being demolished and has to move. Now I don't have this anxiety because I moved a lot as a child. So, how do I truly describe this anxiety when it is already hard to put into words.
With things like this I always recommend talking to / reading things from people who do have the condition in question, rather than asking other writers. That said, I would focus on the root of the anxiety. I'm someone for whom routine and sameness feel safe -- the feeling is that as long as things continue the way they've been going, it'll be okay, so any deviation from the routine opens up the potential for bad things to happen. It sounds especially traumatic for her home to be taken away. That's typically someone's safe space, where they can get away from external stressors and have the most control over the environment. And it's not like she's being evicted -- it's being demolished. The place she feels safest in is being destroyed; there's no way she can ever go back to it. That might bring on a feeling that she'll never be able to feel safe again, or at the very least, it's going to be a long time before she's able to settle in to somewhere new and regain the sense of safety. Change itself can be stressful because it's full of unknowns. All of those 'what ifs' are compounded by "What if I'm not even thinking of all the what ifs?" -- it can feel safer and even soothing in a way to try to 'plan' for every potential problem, but all you're really doing is making yourself obsess over worst possible outcomes. She doesn't know where she's going to live, so she's 'planning' for what she'll do if she has to live in some horrible situation -- what if my new landlord is a serial killer? will I be able to fight him off? what if I can't find anywhere to live at all? can I survive on the street? what will I do when it's winter? When your brain is really good at finding things to be nervous about, it's easy to spin off into absurd scenarios. All that said, it's really dependent on her -- who she is as a person, how well she manages her anxiety, whether she's on medication for it. If she is medicated, something like this could easily trigger an emotional state that her current medication's not able to handle. If she's been in therapy, she might have a better chance of realizing that she's overreacting, and you could have her attempting to self-soothe and regulate herself (to whatever degree of success). Ditto if she's been dealing with anxiety for a long time and is just kinda used to it / how it makes her behave. Despite having anxiety, I'm a pretty level-headed person who's capable of going, "Okay, I'm being an idiot, and I need to go sit down somewhere and catch my breath, that's all." Is she the type of person to do that, or is she less experienced / has more severe, possibly unmedicated anxiety that's going to cause her to spin off into panic attack mode and have a breakdown? That's up to you.
I hate moving. Oh god, I have too much stuff. How am I going to pack it all? What about the fragile stuff? What if I don't have enough boxes? What if I get sick or hurt right before moving day? How am I going to find a new place to live? What if every place turns me down because of bad credit? Everywhere wants proof of income nowadays. How much do storage units cost? I'm going to have to put all my furniture in one and go stay with my sister. What if she says no and I have to stay in a hotel? That's not any cheaper than renting a place. In fact it'll be worse because I'll have to eat out for every meal. Who's going to help me move? Should I hire movers? That's a money sink right there. But if I get a U-Haul I'll have to do the thing where you put stickers on any spot that's damaged so they don't charge you for the damage, and I might miss one, so I'd better take timestamped photos like the last time I had a rental car. Oh god, last time I moved I was in the old apartment until 1 AM cleaning it out and I still got slapped with cleaning fees. What about my cat? He's too old to deal with this. I can't take him away from his home, that'd be cruel. I'm going to miss this place so much. How the hell can they just kick people out of their homes like this? What's my commute going to be like in the new place? What if the only place I can find is like an hour's commute time? Am I going to have to quit my job? Do I have time to find a new place AND give notice? Do I even have enough money for a security deposit? What about places that want first and last month's rent? What if I wind up somewhere that seems nice at first but is actually a disaster? Everywhere I can afford has terrible reviews on apartmentratings.com... Brought to you by: Dragon Turtle, who has anxiety and also really hates moving.
Mmm... She's lost an important point of reference. She is destabilised. She is agitated by sudden changes which are forcing her to move into unknown territory. The feeling of being unsettled makes her feel restless. Her life's balance is being suddenly disrupted. Yes?
Okay, so she's moving and it's making her anxious. I also moved a lot as a child, so I don't get anxious about that. But from general observations and people who've talked to me about feeling nervous/anxious about this they tend to tell me stuff like: Worried they won't make any friends at the new place they'll live in, and so they'll be alone. Expand that and you got something substantial there. They're going to miss it here. The familiarity, the knowing where everything is, knowing the people, having a place in society that they're comfortable with. There's really a good amount of anxiety here with having that knowledge that you're about to go somewhere you do not know. Worried that the people in the new place are going to be stuck up or rude or aloof or xenophobic(closed off to new people). Similar to one, but slightly different. Nervous about the crime levels of the new place. Nervous about the class of the area, the property value, the culture. Things like that.
Pretty much every human being who ever lived has experienced anxiety. It's just an emotion like sadness or joy. There are anxiety disorders where people feel it more than is normal, but it's still the same emotion; it just won't go away when it ought to. Asking what 'different kinds of anxiety' feel like is like asking what different kinds of happiness feel like or different kinds of anger. There are as many answers as there are people in the world. More, in fact. Does my happiness when I'm in the woods with my son feel different to Bob's happiness when he has a nice curry? Would my curry-related happiness feel the same as Bob's?
This is actually my definition for scream, but I think it works for anxiety as well: Murderous rage and inconsolable sorrow Voluminous frustration Abundant irritation Palpable upheaval of unbridled emotion Undulating bile and wretched vexation
You're not writing a scientific paper. Your readers are not scientists either. You can read up about anxiety and what it means, what the symptoms are etc. How does anxiety manifest itself? How would a stranger know that this character is anxious? Let's say that your character may appear nervous and may also have various fears. So, describe some stuff that a nervous person would do and describe what those fears are. You don't say: "Mary was nervous and had irrational fears". You say: "Mary stood in the middle of the kitchen, biting her nails and wondering what she's gonna do if her new landlord didn't accept pets. She bent down to pick up her beloved dog, Spot, and squeezed it so tight that its eyes popped." Or, Mary could wake up in the middle of the night all sweaty because she had nightmares about moving to a new place and then that place being demolished by an aliens. Or, maybe she dreams that she's chased by aliens and she can't escape. That may also be a manifestation of irrational fears and wrecked nerves.
I have anxiety at times, and I'll try to describe it the best I can. Basically, I tended to get anxious about change, especially with regards to schedules. It was a big problem with me at my previous job. Many of the workers were quite lazy, and I often had to do their jobs as well, which lead to my schedule changing. Also, when I would get a pizza order when I was about to do something else, or about to leave, I would also get anxious. Having to stay late was another thing that set me off a bit. Essentially, changes to routine, even if in the grand scheme weren't very big deals, caused me to get anxious, and sometimes angry. I usually kept it private, but not always, a fact which I am ashamed of, and am trying to work on. If I were to best describe what it feels like, I would say you get a complete one track mind, to the point where everything else becomes secondary, including reason and logic. You start to sweat, and try and do things quickly, which can result in mistakes, which means you have to take even longer. Sometimes, you try and blame others, in an attempt to justify your anger, which just increases your anxiety. After it passes, and you begin to think more rationally, you feel ashamed, and want to do better next time. However, that's easier said than done. Hope this helped.
I moved a lot as a kid, but have anxiety (officially diagnosed as social anxiety, but I experience other types and it often centers around my pets). For myself, any form of anxiety feels like someone wrapped a hand around my gut and continues to tighten and tighten as the situation grows closer and closer. My heart races, my thoughts begin to stagger, and my mouth dries. The unreasonable thoughts war with the logical side of me. I know my dogs will be fine in the car for the several hour drive; I know the door is locked; and I know the stove is turned off. However, the thoughts ask, "Are you sure?" and this repeats itself until I force myself to listen to the advice psychologists have given me. Really, for your situation, any sort of anxiety-themed feelings could likely work.
Anxiety disorders are more complex than just "feels anxious more often." People with anxiety disorders often respond differently to situations than people without; they have different coping mechanisms and patterns of thought and behavior. It's a valid question to ask how this character might react.
Imagine being rational, logical and calm. Now imagine your mind doing the opposite and realizing it. Edit: and unable to regain control of yourself
Okay, I'll speak from experience for this one. I recently had to move to a completely different state where I didn't know anyone, granted it was my fault, but I didn't realize that at the time so I think my emotions before I realized I had a choice in the first place will work here. I scrolled through the other replies, as I do, and saw that there was an emotion that was only mentioned once, anger. So, I'm the kind of guy that doesn't show my anger to people, like, you really have to try to make me show that I'm mad at you, so anger is something that I keep a tight lock on. When I found out that I was moving to someplace completely unknown and that I didn't have a choice (yeah, I already said that I did, but I was deluding myself at the time so this statement still stands), I found that my anxiety quickly turned to anger at my family for making me move. As someone with anxieties, I can confidently state that most people don't understand that anger is just as legitimate a coping mechanism as humor or sorrow. It's a violent one too, because, at least in my case, my anxiety kept me from showing my anger to people, so it festered and turned into a rage bomb. Like, the rage bomb that you don't know about until it explodes out of nowhere. This has happened several times when I was younger (better now), so I can attest to it's consistency. Ah, right, another one that I believe most people don't realize is joy. Just like it can cause anger, anxiety can also create joy. Let me explain. You know when you're trying something and you're not sure if it'll work, then it does and it's a pleasant surprise? In my case, that pleasant surprise feels like you're swimming in a river of gold and the river-gold tastes like chocolate and the temperature's juuuuust right for it to feel absolutely amazing. The same goes for anger. When that rage bomb finally stops exploding, I'll feel a strange sense of calm and clarity that usually stays with me throughout the day. See, in my case, anxiety is like the string on a slingshot with a rock waiting to be launched. Yeah, it'll go through a lot of strain and stress (anger, sorrow, false-humor, etc.), but, in the end, all of that strain and stress will be let go and the rock it was holding will be launched. That string will then return to neutrality, but not before feeling the bliss of having absolutely nothing to have to hold on to. (even if it's only for a second). PS: I mentioned delusion for a moment there. I didn't give it its own section because, as I understand it, that one's pretty common, as well as commonly known. Okay, I know that my answer was a bit broader than what you were looking for, but I can't really help it, I rant on instinct.
I believe everyone has their own anxiety problems, meaning that we have our own form of anxiety and you should try to describe this yourself. Try Creating a mind map of your feelings at the time, use the 3 base feelings as help.
Like many, I hate being late and just the thought of being late begins my anxiety. I think detailed descriptions, but not overly detailed and therein lies the trick, are key to describing any emotion including anxiety. When I see that something is going to make me late, I can feel my blood pressure rising and my temper as well because it's out of my control. I think an bit of an extended description based on just those two factors could add something.
My girlfriend suffers from anxiety and agoraphobia. I myself have never gotten a panic attack or really had anything other than mild anxiousness (aside from the very rare weird "about to fall asleep but have a sudden weird jolt of anxiety" that happens for no god damn reason). If she were going to move, she'd be freaked out about people seeing her. She'd be afraid people would see her 'messing up' or not doing something right and that anyone through any window anywhere might be looking at her and judging her somehow. That's an incredibly simple way of putting it, but it's those really morbid and silly things that trigger her, even if she knows how silly it is. She knows fully well no one would be looking at her or watching her or judging her on anything, but that still freaks her out. Also, having to go anywhere she's "trapped" in any way, like between aisles at a super market or something. She gets really freaked out in the middle of aisles because if she has to 'escape' for some reason, she'd need to go all the way to either side of the aisle to exit it. That's just general descriptions of her anxiety. I hope it can help you at all.
I would focus on the physical sensations and reactions first - pounding heart, shortness of breath, agitation, knot in stomach... this will help the reader to empathise with what the character is experiencing as we can all relate to those sensations. Then describe the thought process and behaviours. When in a state of anxiety one will often repeat the same thought pattern over and over again, and/or jump rapidly from one thought to another in a runaway fashion. You can use both of these in your description of the character's thoughts, perhaps dropping the word count in each sentence to give a breathless, panicked feel to the passage during which she is anxious.
There may be a little confusion in the responses you are getting generated by some confusion in the question itself. You seem to be confusing the experience of the feeling of anxiety —which we all have and is actually necessary to live since it is an internal signal of danger—with “triggers” for anxiety. All of can get triggered by some similar things, for example, an unexpected loud noise in the middle of the night. And some of us are mildly or massively triggered by things that are of little bother to others. As writers, we can make up that our characters are triggered by all kinds of things. But how we describe their manifesting the anxiety is really all about description. You certainly have been anxious (read fearful) in your life. Describe it, embellish it, make the reader feel it. The fact that your main character’s anxiety is being triggered by moving does not alter how you describe anxiety. Anxiety is manifested similarly irregardless of the nature of the trigger.
