Anxiety

Many feelings and emotions arise during sex: joy, arousal, excitement, nervousness, anticipation, confusion, and sometimes also fear, worry or anxiety. Anxiety may come from nervousness, performance pressure, or worrying about how the other person sees you. 

Difficult feelings are a common part of sexual situations. In the moment you might feel they are impossible to overcome, or that they will ruin everything. Those feelings pass fairly quickly if you are able to keep them from overpowering you. A moment of relaxing and calming down might be enough to dispel difficult feelings. 

A good sex partner allows space for different feelings and does not pressure you to perform or to carry all of the responsibility in sexual situations. It is easier to cope with and let go of difficult feelings when you talk about them and figure out together how to proceed. Sometimes getting back into the mood is easy after a moment of calming down, but sometimes it is a good idea to do something else and try again later.

About the artist

Nadia Nova is a Finnish artist who draws and makes games and stories with her free time. All her content focuses on mirroring her own experiences, that of trans woman navigating sex, being gay and living with mental illness. Her content can be found in nadianova.itch.io and her Twitter: @littanana.