Why Is My Anxiety So High Now?

Over the last year, many of us have noticed new, and somewhat alarming, changes in our bodies.

And no – we’re not talking about those extra “quarantine” pounds or those newly developed gray hairs or wrinkles.

We’re referring to those sudden spikes in your heart rate, when your heart feels like it could push out of your chest. Or those moments when your lungs feel like they’re being pressed against, and you can’t get in a full breath. Or even those times when you find tears falling down your cheeks for no particular reason.

We’re talking about anxiety and the many symptoms that accompany it.

Why anxiety is at an all-time high

While it may seem like an obvious answer as to why our anxiety is so high, there are many factors that play into our unique, current climate of anxiety.

1. Fear

Fear may be the biggest driving force of anxiety in the world right now. You could look at nearly any issue, and find a fear behind it.

The biggest fear on most people’s minds is health – their own and their loved ones. In fact, 64% of Americans are worried about loved ones getting COVID-19, while only 49% are worried about getting it themselves. This constant worry, especially for any elderly relatives, begins to take its toll after months and months.

Another fear is financial-related. How many people are still scared they could lose their jobs and not find an equally-competitive job opportunity?

Other people are worried that their kids missed out on key opportunities over the past year and a half – from not getting to celebrate their graduation to not socializing with other children for months on end. They also may wonder if remote learning prepared their kids enough for the upcoming school year.

Regardless of the source, fear is a pervasive issue in society right now.

While anxiety isn’t anything new, more and more people are experiencing higher levels of anxiety after an extremely difficult year. In fact, 41% of Americans said they are more anxious than last year, even with more and more vaccines becoming available in the United States.

2. Grief

Across the world, over four million people have lost their lives to COVID-19. The chances that you know someone who has passed from this disease has steadily increased, to the point where most of us can say they at least know someone who has lost someone close to them.

This grief is felt not only by those who lost loved ones, but also the globe as a whole. Whenever you see a news story or memorial about someone who died from the coronavirus, our hearts ache a little – because even if we don’t know them, we know that this could have easily been about one of our loved ones.

When death is as random and unpredictable as it has been with COVID-19, it makes every loss relatable and heartbreaking.

3. Stress

Stress is nothing new – it wasn’t created by the pandemic. But the stress levels of individuals have shot through the roof. From the above reasons of fear or getting sick or losing a job to other, more specific stressors.

For example, last year people were extremely stressed from getting used to working from home, and figuring out how to do that. Many of these people were parents, who also had to learn how to teach their children in between their 9-5.

Now that stress may have taken a complete 180 – as people are faced with the task of working from an office again, they are worried about losing the work/life balance they finally established in their remote working situations.

On the other hand, frontline workers had unrivaled levels of stress, as they encountered infected and often dying people every day. The trauma frontline workers have endured is not fully known, but it is likely to have long lasting effects on those who were brave enough to put others first.

The constant flux of the pandemic, and all the pieces that went with it, drove our stress levels through the roof (and didn’t offer us a respite from it).

Get help

If you are worried your anxiety is getting to an unmanageable level, don’t be afraid to reach out to a therapist and set up an appointment.

If you’ve been seeing a therapist or believe you have a more severe case of anxiety, you can also look into more intensive treatment options, such as a holistic treatment center that specializes in anxiety.