Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
Hi, I have been an anxiety sufferer for 12 years now. Apparently I am having a new thing where I have anxiety when my boyfriend stays away on weekend nights. This is a new thing...not really sure where it's coming from. It got me thinking though and I wanted to share these thoughts.
I see a lot of new people come here for anxiety support. They are panicking and don't know how to handle the situation and are here asking others to help them through it, just as I did when I first came here. People would tell me things like I had to embrace it and accept it to get through it. They gave me all the standard coping mechanisms, deep breathing, relaxing music, etc.
For years I never really understood what it meant. As I went through this mild anxiety tonight, I realized that something has clicked and I do now understand what others were trying to tell me.
There was always this cycle, you have the feelings of discomfort that signal an anxiety attack is coming. Pounding heart, nausea, chills, whatever your symptoms are. This would immediately lead to further panic..afraid of what was coming. the fear of the anxiety would often trigger stronger anxiety until I was so wound up I didn't know what to do with myself. In the beginning, I would actually throw up and had to start carrying a barf bag around, per my counselors instructions.
Now, I think I understand. It's a matter of breaking the cycle. Embracing it, accepting it, whatever you want to call it. I don't really know how to explain it. I accept that this is happening to me but I refuse to hide in the dark and be afraid and feed the monster. It's not always easy to do, but you CAN re-train yourself to acknowledge the attack and move past it. I don't care if people see me having the panic attack and think I'm a whack job. Worrying about those things only made it stronger. In my head, I always imagine I am shining a bright light on it, pushing it out into the daylight. In my head, it shrinks in fear and pain, as all evil will when exposed to the light. I hope that anyone who is new here, as I once was, will take some small comfort in these words and realize that it WILL get better.
the episode I had only lasted about an hour. Once I recognized what was happening, I made myself busy cleaning up around the house for a bit and it faded. I wish everyone peace in this holiday season.
Learning how to ride it is a huge part of coping with it. And learning that it's a force of nature, and that thinking when you're in it is always a bad idea, so you have to shut your brain down and let your body just process the chemicals... learning your brain isn't your friend in an attack, those are very hard and valuable things to learn.
Especially for those of us who think we're bright. :D Those of us who think we're logical, and rational, and sane, find it harder to realise that our brains can malfunction severely and have to be locked in a room alone while they have their little episode. :D
So yeah. Cleaning. Gardening. Swimming. Stuff.