Anxiety

by Samantha

Anxiety can be a debilitating condition and often the natural reaction is to run away from the situation – this is just what anxiety thrives on – fear! Fear gives Anxiety the power to continue its cycle.

Sufferers of anxiety may experience some or all of the symptoms below:

• Constant worrying
• Feelings of stress
• Difficulty breathing
• Headache
• Feeling constantly tired
• Difficulty swallowing
• Loss of interest in anything
• Depression
• Racing heart
• Lack of emotion
• Blurry vision
• Lack of sleep
• Pins and needles
• Disturbing thoughts
• Paranoia about what people think
• Feelings of panic
• Feeling irritable
• Constantly anxious
• Feeling deflated and hopeless

I have heard of other symptoms over the years, but they all stem from the same problem – anxiety. If you recognise these symptoms, you are not alone – it is said that 10% of the population will suffer at some point in their life. The good news is, everyone can recover if they receive the right help and support because once you understand why you feel like this and how the cycle is being perpetuated, you will start to recover.

Anxiety is often caused by a stressful period in your life, a time when your mind and body needed a break but didn't get one. Anxiety was its way of saying "I can't do any more, I'm over worked and over tired". Once anxiety steps in, the sufferer become anxious about the anxiety itself and a cycle begins. The desperation to get rid of these feelings keeps your anxiety alive. The stress you put yourself through each time you feel the anxiety coming on and the worrying and thinking about the anxiety, put even more pressure on you, so it's no wonder anxiety keeps popping up.

Stop being so hard on yourself about how you feel and give your body and mind the time-out it needs.

Think of what you say to yourself in your head or out loud when you feel anxiety coming on – things like "what is wrong with me? why am I feeling like this?, I can't stand this, it's ridiculous, stupid...". Think of the tone you take when you think or say these things – desperate, pleading, frightened, angry, stressed – all the things anxiety feeds off and heads towards.

Knowledge is power! The less you fear your symptoms, the less effect they have on you. This also stops the worry cycle you may find yourself in, which is the very thing that keeps anxiety going. You are bound to worry if you don't know what is wrong with you.

Have you heard the term "Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway"? well that's kind of what I'm getting at here. Impossible you say? I know it feels that way, but although you may feel you are going to die if you walk through your anxiety rather than run away from it, you are not! Anxiety is like a bully, it wants you to run, to cower and shut yourself away, but if you don't allow it to do those things to you, it loses its power and control over you.

Recovery takes time, patience, understanding and support, it won't happen over night, but it WILL happen, you CAN recover. Anxiety does not have to be a way of life!