The Quiet Resilience of Anxious Women: Reflections for International Women's Day

Tomorrow is International Women's Day. If your social media feeds look anything like mine, you're about to see a lot of posts celebrating women who are breaking glass ceilings, launching companies, organizing movements, and generally looking incredibly put-together while doing it.

I love those posts. I genuinely do. We need to see women winning.

But as a 29-year-old Somali-American woman who has lived with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks since I was a teenager, those posts used to make me feel profoundly broken.

When your brain is actively working against you, the standard definition of "empowerment" can feel like just another standard you're failing to meet. In my community, there is already so much cultural pressure to be the "strong woman." The eldest daughter syndrome is real, and the immigrant daughter syndrome adds another layer entirely. You are expected to be resilient, to carry the weight of your family's sacrifices, and to do it without complaining. Mental health struggles are often met with confusion, silence, or well-meaning but unhelpful advice to simply "pray harder" or "stop worrying."

For a long time, I thought my anxiety made me weak. I dropped out of my junior year of college because my panic attacks were so severe I couldn't sit in a lecture hall. I looked at the women being celebrated as "empowered" and thought: That will never be me. I can barely make it to the grocery store today.

Re-defining Strength

It took therapy, medication, and a lot of unlearning to realize that the definition of strength I was holding myself to was incomplete.

If you are a woman living with anxiety, you are managing a central nervous system that is constantly misfiring, telling you that you are in mortal danger when you are just trying to answer an email. You are navigating a world that demands constant productivity while your body is quietly fighting a war no one else can see.

Doing that day after day? That is resilience. That is strength.

This International Women's Day, I want to celebrate the quiet resilience of anxious women.

I want to celebrate the woman who had a panic attack in the bathroom stall, splashed cold water on her face, and still went back to her desk.

I want to celebrate the woman who had to cancel plans last minute because the sensory overload was too much, and chose to honor her body's limits instead of pushing through and burning out.

I want to celebrate the women in my own community who are quietly breaking generational cycles of silence, going to therapy (even if they don't tell their parents about it), and learning to regulate their nervous systems.

Empowerment Looks Different for Everyone

Empowerment doesn't always look like a TED Talk or a promotion. Sometimes, empowerment looks like:

• Recognizing your early warning signs of a spiral and taking a step back.
• Taking your medication exactly as prescribed, despite the stigma.
• Setting a boundary with a family member who triggers your anxiety.
• Surviving a day where your only accomplishment was simply breathing through the discomfort.

If you are carrying anxiety today, I want you to know that you don't have to be conventionally "inspirational" to be strong. Your survival is enough. Your messy, non-linear, two-steps-forward-one-step-back healing journey is enough.

We need to share these stories just as loudly as we share our career milestones. When we talk honestly about the ugly, exhausting parts of managing our mental health, we give other women permission to stop pretending they are fine. We break the isolation that anxiety thrives on.

So tomorrow, as we celebrate the incredible achievements of women around the world, please take a moment to celebrate yourself. You are fighting a quiet battle, and you are still here. That is worth honoring.

Disclaimer: I am Noor Abdi, a 29-year-old sharing my lived experience with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I am not a therapist or a medical professional. The thoughts shared here are my own and should not be taken as medical advice. If your anxiety is overwhelming or impacting your daily life, please seek out a licensed mental health professional. If you are in crisis, please call or text 988 (in the US) or reach out to your local emergency services.