Lots of people use the analogy of the black dog to describe what living with depression feels like but no one has an equivalent for living with anxiety.

I see the dog as a slow moving, sloping, sly figure that lumbers up sits with you and is heavy it wont move. Its voice is slow. And it’s black.

Anxiety is different. Well, mine is. It has a frenetic quality. It makes me restless. I can’t settle to anything. It’s a like a ball of red fire that’s bouncing around me.

Tormenting me. Its voice is whiny and high pitched. Evil. Ripping away the peace and joy of the day.

It starts in the pit of my stomach, and I feel the hot sensation rise in me. Then it spills out and then it’s war. It rages on me against the fire. Every anxious thought I have fuels the fire. I can feel it getting bigger.

All the external noises, the life noises get louder. Too loud and I can’t think. I get irritated too. Short tempered. Like the fire is making my temper rise.

That’s how I see it. How I experience it.

How woud you describe how you feel?