The Anxiety You Don’t See: How I Learned to Listen to My Body

Neon "Breathe" sign

It didn’t start as panic. It started as something quiet.

A slight heaviness in my chest.

A tension that crept in when I wasn’t paying attention.

Music would be playing, I’d be smiling on the outside, but inside, something was shifting.

I used to work in a job that, on the surface, looked like a dream.

However, it was high-pressure, high-profile, and high-performing.

I was leading marketing across major brands, and from the outside, it looked like success.

But inside, something different was happening.

Every morning on my way to work, I felt fine.

Calm, even.

But as I got closer to the office, my body would start to change.

My chest would tighten.

My mood would drop.

The lightness I carried in the morning would disappear before I even stepped into the building.

It was like my body knew something before I did.

Over time, the signs got louder.

I was always exhausted.

My skin lost its color.

And then came the diagnoses. One after another:

• PCOS

• Autoimmune issues

• Vitamin deficiencies (A, B, C, D — all of them)

• Abnormal cells in my cervix

• PTSD

I remember the doctor looking at me and saying something I’ll never forget:

"You can keep this job, or you can choose to live. But you can’t do both."

That was the moment everything shifted.

I realized that my anxiety wasn’t just in my mind.

It was in my body. It had been speaking to me long before I had the language to name it.

And leaving that job?

That was one of the bravest things I’ve ever done.

But I didn’t do it alone.

It took a team: doctors, a therapist, a community.

It took learning to become a friend to myself.

It took unlearning the idea that quitting meant failure.

I didn’t fail. I chose me.

Anxiety doesn’t always roar.

Sometimes it whispers.

Sometimes it shows up in sore muscles, forgotten meals, missed periods, or the color draining from your face.

If something in your body feels off, listen.

You are not weak.

You are not broken.

You are being asked to pay attention.

And if you’re in that space now?

Just know: You are not the only one.

You are not behind.

And you are not the storm.

You’re the one learning to walk through it with tenderness and truth.

One step at a time.

If this resonated with you, I created something gentle to hold you through the hard days.

✨ You Are Not the Storm is a digital journal for the moments that feel like too much—part grounding space, part quiet companion.

You can take a peek here. 💛

You Are Not the Storm Guide