I know exactly how horrible it is to go through anxiety.
I myself have had a anxiety disorder since I was three years old.
As I'm sure most of the people who have anxiety disorder know there is more than one kind of anxiety disorder, there are at least 8 and I was very unfortunate because I had 6 of those 8.
As you can imagine growing up was very hard for me, for the longest time I had a full blown panic attack every single night.
It was as though my mind was on a timer and every night at 5 or 6 my anxiety hit me and from that point on I couldn't eat, I could barely speak, I couldn't even do something as simple as watch TV.
But the worst part was that as a child I didn't understand what was going on.
Of course my parents tried to explain it to me but I didn't understand, I just thought that I was being punished and I had no idea what for.
I still struggle with memories of how horrible that time of my life was.
Especially since the anxiety disorder followed me from three years old all the way to high school and through part of college.
There were years of High School where I was home more than at school because I couldn't handle being at school.
In fact every time that I left my house I started panicking.
I started losing my friends because my anxiety wouldn't let me participate in fun times with them, and my grades suffered horribly.
I'm sure you don't want to hear all the details of my anxiety but the point is that I basically went through hell for a large part of my life and I did what most people do to fix it.
I took medication and went to therapy and the truth I know those are great cures for some people but it didn't do anything for me.
In fact in a lot of ways my anxiety got worse until I figured out what worked for me.
And thats what I want to share with you.
Getting through my anxiety and getting over it completely was by no means an overnight task; it took a lot of hard work and a lot of mental work.
I figured out that the best way for me to get through my anxiety and figure out the real causes of it was not by talking to someone else but just by working through the issues in my own mind.
The first few times it just happened by accident, I would be sitting watching television or driving in my car and a thought would come to me, a clue as to what was really going on and I would work through those thoughts and every-time that I did that it brought me closer to fixing my problem on a more permanent note and now I can honestly say that I'm pretty much anxiety free.
There were a few key things for me in getting to this place.
1.
The first thing was finding my safe place, everyone has their own.
For some it might be their desk chair, other's their car but everyone has one.
It's the place that once you are there your entire system starts calming down.
You could be in the middle of a full blown panic attack but once you are in your safe space the panic attack that seemed so dire automatically starts to leave your system.
So the next time that your having a panic attack experiment and find your safe place.
I know when your mind starts racing with panic thats hard to do but please try it will be worth it.
2.
The second thing is to slowly work through your thoughts.
In the middle of a panic attack they are all over the place and often when your calm trying to work through your thoughts can lead to a panic attack, don't let them.
I know, I know, easier said than done right? But once you get the hang of it, it really is very simple.
You start out by taking a deep breath and calming your mind down, don't even try to sort through your thoughts first, just calm down.
Once your truly calm then it's the perfect time to go through your thoughts, and you will be surprised how easily they flow through your mind.
This is key; there are probably going to be some thoughts that come into your mind that reveal things about you that you really don't want to know, or already know but don't want to accept.
Don't fight them, let them flow through your mind and work on them.
The only way that those thoughts won't be true anymore is if you fix the problem and do that you have to accept that there is a problem.
3.
The third thing is finding someone you can talk to.
Once you have worked through these thoughts it does help to tell someone, sometimes you are able to dig even deeper in your mind and fix the problems even further by doing that.
It doesn't have to be a therapist though, it can be your best friend, a family member even your pet.
I know for me it was always my dog and my mother.
I could talk to either one of them about my problems and my epiphanies and I always felt better after.
4.
Once you have figured out what some of the issues are and hopefully some of the solutions.
Its time to look at your life, really look at it.
Does your job make you happy or miserable? Do you love where you live or can't stand it? Do you really love your boyfriend/girlfriend or are you just with them so you have someone to be with.
You may not realize it, you may think that you can separate the parts of your life that you don't like from the parts that you do but not everyone can.
And having a anxiety disorder makes it that much harder.
So if there is a large part of your life that makes your unhappy such as the ones I already mentioned seriously consider making a change in that area.
I know its hard, I know its scary but it could the best thing for you.
For example when I was living with a roommate for the first time I was doing a retail job in a cute little town, and it was only two days a week ( I didn't need any more money than that) and during the time I thought that the job was really a good thing.
But then the job ended and I finally realized how miserable it was making me.
Once that job was over my entire outlook on life changed, I used to be cynical and pessimistic side of life but once that job was over life seemed more beautiful.
I started taking better care of myself, eating right, exercising and doing other things that made me happy.
I started looking at what I had in life and not what I didn't have.
I started appreciating everything more and smiling more, just really enjoying life more.
And guess what? Along with that my anxiety pretty much left me entirely, I didn't have anymore panic attacks, I slept better, I no longer felt constantly sick with headaches.
But after a few months I got another job I didn't like and it caused me so much anxiety that I almost ended up in the hospital so I had to quick.
I just wanted you to see how much one aspect of your life really can affect all the rest, so don't be afraid to change.
5.
The fifth is a combination of things.
For one exercise is big part of feeling better, doesn't matter if you go to the gym or work out from home but you need to spend at least a half hour a day doing some form of exercise even if it is just taking a nice walk.
Also since anxiety does cause a person a lot of stress and gets their mind going it doesn't hurt to take some medication but it doesn't have to be strong or a prescription.
The pill that really helped me is called Suntheanine and its all herbal.
You can find it at your local health food store.
The pills are chewable and actually taste pretty good and it does work.
The final thing is to find a good book about anxiety that can help you out even further.
It might lead you on to some problems that you didn't know existed and that need fixing, or it might give you solutions you didn't think of before.
Either way getting a good anxiety book that you can rely on is an important part of the healing process.
The book that I found particularly help is called The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook.
I'm aware that this is a very long article but anxiety is a very serious issues.
And because I know how horrible it I just wanted to be able to help others who are going through the same thing.
I figure there should be at least some good that comes from my having anxiety for so long and I believe this is it; helping others with the same problem.
I truly hope that this article has helped you out in the way I intended it and that you took some advice from it that will be beneficial to you.