This Mom Got Incredibly Honest About How Crippling Postpartum Anxiety Can Be

Living with anxiety could be one of the hardest thing that humans deal with on a day-to-day basis. Worrying about everything and anything is both emotionally and physically taxing and I know it first hand. Women, especially new moms, should never feel like they're alone when it comes to their battle with anxiety. And this mom, who got honest about how crippling postpartum anxiety can be, is an inspiration to others to assure them that they're not the only one who is struggling.

The mom, Kristen Hewitt, is a part-time television reporter by day, according to HuffPost, and a full-time mom all the time to her two daughters, both of whom are under the age of 8. Hewitt struggles from postpartum anxiety, PTSD, and perimenopause, according to HuffPost.

In a Facebook post written on Saturday, Hewitt shared her story about the thing she lives with every single day — and it's something that so many women out there go through as well. Hewitt's post, also shared to her blog, starts out by detailing situations that most women are probably familiar with:

Today has been a rough day. I've been feeling well lately, taking care of myself, and been relatively calm. But today anxiety won.

Today anxiety told me I couldn't leave my kids to go on vacation with my husband because the plane might crash.

Today anxiety brought me to my knees in tears that wouldn't stop for hours.

Today anxiety had me hiding in my room, afraid for my kids to see me upset.

Today anxiety had me believing I wasn't good enough.

Hewitt continues in her completely honest post, addressing moms who have ever been through some unexpected postpartum changes:

Women — we change after having kids. Sometimes it's depression. Sometimes anxiety, sometimes both. But we need to confide in others and get help. Process whats happening. Find the root and try to heal. Sometimes I feel better meditating or writing. And like today I just needed to be held, reminded I wasn't alone. I needed to journal and remember to find my own divine light and love that's always inside.

Hewitt's advice is the kind that all women can take to heart, because having anxiety is more common than you would think. Hewitt isn't alone. In fact, 18 percent of the population suffers from anxiety. And women are twice as likely to have anxiety than men, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, while about 9 percent of women experience postpartum PTSD.

Postpartum anxiety is also incredibly prevalent in new mothers. A study done in June 2016 by researchers at the University of British Columbia found that postpartum anxiety is much more common than depression in new and expecting moms than previously believed.

And if women have never experienced anxiety before having a kid, it is very possible for pregnancy to develop it. According to Parents, postpartum anxiety can be caused by a variety of triggers including, the "huge hormonal shift" that women go through after having a baby and new life changes, like a lack of sleep and a new onset of responsibility.

Hewitt ends her Facebook post, which has accumulated over 900 likes and shares from mothers who have gone through the same exact thing, with an uplifting message to end on:

But this is real life. It's messy, it's hard, it sometimes is too much to handle, but even at its worst it's still beautiful. My hope in sharing this is to let anyone who may suffer from depression or anxiety, or some other illness know — you are not alone. You are not broken. You are LOVE. And so am I.

Her words are incredibly empowering to every woman out there — mother or not — suffering from anxiety. It is posts like these that serve as a powerful reminder that someone else out there gets "it".