“People aren’t always going to be there for you. That’s why you need to learn to handle things on your own.” ~Unknown
Anxiety is a box around your mind. It’s the cage in which your deepest worries start to pace, then walk, and gain momentum until they’re out of control.
Once these worries and scenarios take off and hit the walls of this box, they’re trapped, and tension starts building.
It can be an exhausting cycle of stress that you might think you have to face alone if you want to avoid opening yourself up to pity or rejection.
You may think others will judge or stereotype you if they know about your struggle. Or, you might worry that if they do know, they’ll assume you’re either looking for attention or not doing enough to function like everyone else.
Here’s the kicker: You don’t have to function like everyone else. When you struggle with anxiety, just functioning is something to be proud of.
The absence of another’s approval or input when progressing can make you feel like you’re not making improvement at all. It’s hard to pull yourself out of an anxiety attack or downturn of emotions, and it can feel lonely when you think you can’t call on anyone, but there are times when self-reliance is your only option.
Yes, this may happen. It happened to me, and it was my worst-case scenario realized.
I lost people who I called on too many times for help, and I know I frustrated people by making unhealthy choices solely because I was anxious about the alternative options.
I felt like a burden on the very people I would help in any way I could, if the situation were reversed.
Relating to friends became a game of how normal I could act. It’s an extremely difficult way to live.
Although it can be helpful to open up to someone who can support you, sometimes you need to admit to yourself that, in this moment, you must do it alone.
Here are a few things that have helped me cope with my anxiety and the disappointments in my relationships.
1. Recognize that some people won’t be able to be there for you.
I started out the summer in a close group of my four best friends and ended it with a completely new social group and a long drive to a different country.
It’s not easy to let go of friends you thought were going to be in your life forever, but it’s often necessary.
Knowing when to separate is something I struggle with. I constantly think of what I could still have in my life if I had made different choices. But I know I made the right decision for myself. The best friends I look to now understand my struggles and uplift me instead of bringing me down.
When you grow, the people you surround yourself with may change, but this is the best part of the process. As you meet new people and gain new interests, you’ll find individuals that you’ll connect with on a deeper level than you would simply based on who was in close proximity.
Allow people to have a temporary presence in your life, and stop weighing yourself down with worry about whether that’s the right choice.
Trying to maintain relationships that are exhausting or stressful, just because you don’t want to be lonely, will prevent you from finding relationships that provide the support you need.
2. Forgive yourself.
Often. Until you’re sure you’ve forgiven every mistake you’ve made and will make in this learning process.
I often ruminate on possible mistakes I made until they become these catastrophically negative ideas about how others may see me.
Learning to let go of the past and forgive all of these small slips has had a huge impact on how I am able to deal with daily anxiety. There’s enormous power in realizing that all of these small worries really are just that—small—and very few have an impact on the big picture of your life.
There are many things I exaggerated in my mind through the past year that I realize, as I regretfully look back, weren’t worth the time I lost being happy.
Yes, I made mistakes.
I did things to follow the crowd and swallowed my opinions because I felt too anxious to speak my mind. I held my feelings inside because I worried about upsetting people, and as a result, jeopardized relationships with my family. I jeopardized my health for a few party nights. I called in sick to work because I couldn’t imagine working in such an anxious state.
I forgave myself for it all.
Forgiving myself isn’t a way to shirk responsibility for the apologies I should give, but when you’re on your own journey, you can’t depend on others to give you the absolution you’re seeking.
If you give yourself love, compassion, forgiveness, and support, it will be easier to cope when others don’t offer you these things.
3. Practice gratitude.
“Interrupt anxiety with gratitude.”
This quote has helped me more than any counselor or antidepressant has in the past.
Anxiety causes the scenarios in my mind to become disaster scenes within moments. I might be thinking about an interview or an event I have to attend, or even simply a friend I have to meet, and instantaneously become worried sick about what could go wrong.
Once again, starting small helped me work through my daily anxiety without another’s support.
It really is about the little things in life.
At first, I was grateful for the fact that the tap water I used to wash my hands wasn’t freezing cold on a winter day. I was grateful for my tea still being hot when I got to school. I was grateful that my hair wasn’t frizzy.
But soon, it grew into more than that. It became “I’m grateful I have an interview to go to because it’s the possibility of a job.” It was “I’m grateful that I have an event to go to because it means people want me to be there,” and, “I’m glad I have to meet this person because I enjoy their mindset.”
It healed “I’m worried you don’t love me” into “I’m so grateful that you are in my life.”
Gratitude for the present moment allows anxiety to fall to the wayside. You choose to honor the positive possibilities rather than obsess over the chance of a negative outcome.
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Through all of the trials anxiety will put you through, remember that your journey is your own. Yes, it’s helpful to have support, and we all deserve it. But you can choose to help yourself whether others do or not. So do it. Function. Happily. Independently. And confidently on your own terms.

About Mia Ohki
Mia Ohki is an illustrator from Edmonton, Alberta. She began the movement No Auto-Pilot, which supports females in unconventional careers, and is also a third year psychology student at Athabasca University.
I really enjoyed the article. I was recently grieving how my family hasn’t been there for me. Now I am going to be grateful for my opportunity to truly live my own life and to be grateful in the moment.
This really resonated with me :’) I’ve spent all of my high school and uni years helping my parents out each night at their restaurant, sacrificing my social life in the process. Now that I’m about to graduate, my parents won’t try and understand that my social anxiety is a result of me working for them all these years and never getting the chance to be a “normal teen/adult”.
Definitely become more grateful for everything I have achieved for myself e.g. internships, and continue to love and appreciate myself by continuing to improve myself with the resources I do have 🙂
This is of really good help.I sometimes suffers from the situations that are discribed above.I feel really frustated sometimes. But when I saw this article, it seems of great help. I really wanted to do much better in my life than today.So I will do anything to go back on the right track and after reading this article I immediately comment this post because I want to some commitments to myself that from today I won’t be the same for the sake of myself and my loving ones.
I think out of all the TinyBuddha articles I’ve read in the past, this one is my favorite. This one really hit home and actually showed me a perspective that inspires me to overcome anxiety.
I feel like I can be okay now ❤️ You’ve inspired me to love myself and keep fighting away the dark thoughts and not shut down and give up because everything was not going like it should be. You are right this journey we have to do alone because only we will truly understand and know what we deserve
This is all well and good but what about those of use who don’t want to suffer alone? What about those of us who refuse to believe that our anxiety and depression relationship exclude of from the ability of being in a loving relationship?
I refuse to believe that when I’m suffering I MUST be alone. Yet here I am with no one to stand beside me. Apparently I have nothing to offer anyone (which is fantastic to know for my depression BTW) and so I am forced to endure my pain alone because it’s what I deserve.
I should not have to cope alone. How do I change that? How do I cease being alone?
I really like your point about feeling gratitude during those moments of anxiety. I too, do those things, the thoughts go through my mind as fast as the anxiety does and it helps work to calm myself. Its like giving yourself a pep talk. Even trying it in front of the mirror can help! I promise. I hate the thought that we are alone in this, but it is true. It is our journey. No one can live the journey for us and live in our heads like we do. I wish daily for someone who understands and can talk and relate to me in a way that would help me feel less alone. It bothers me many days, the lonely feeling. I have however, been in many relationships when it only made things worse and made me feel more alone then I did before. Going the journey alone, and/or with a counselor at many moments can be more freeing, not to mention the days I surpass each anxiety attack, I feel that much more accomplished, to prove to myself that I CAN DO IT! Maybe not every day, at every moment, but YOU CAN DO IT! One day at a time, one positive thought at a time.