ANXIETY: HEART TO HEART

This is a hard post to write, and one I hoped I wouldn't have to. But I've spoken about it before, and I felt the need to. I still have anxiety.

Let’s get this straight, since my last post I didn't expect it to go away completely, but I did expect that I could move on a bit from panicking regularly. Sadly, that hasn't happened and the panic attacks are around the same frequency as six months ago. I deal with them better than before, but today I want to talk about the actual anxiety and how I’m feeling, and if you’re feeling something similar we can talk about it.

Talking about it is the big problem here, we don’t talk about it. I don’t like to talk about my anxiety because I’m terrified of the reaction I’d get. Two of my friends know at the moment, and one day hopefully I’ll get better at raising the topic. I think the stigma of Mental Illness is extreme and it’s scary. We are normal people, we just have a different way of processing situations. Jack Harries made a video on this which was extremely helpful to me, and it talks a lot about awareness and understanding of the issue.

For me, stigma is a big part of my life, and in those situations I try my hardest to brush off my anxiety and not address it.  I know this is a bad idea, because the longer you leave something the worse it gets. I think we should all make a pact to talk to someone about it that we trust, for me it’s my best friend. I don’t have less anxiety after talking about it, but it does feel nice to know I’m not the only person experiencing it.

 All that being said, there are a few extra things I do that made me feel so much better and lessen my anxiety to an extent.

1. I changed friendship groups. The people I was with before were quite toxic to me, and I don’t think it was their fault, but we are very different people and my new set of friends are so lovely and I wish I found them sooner.
2. I sing more. I love to do it, and I found that I’m much calmer when I have a day with lots of music classes or time where I can listen to music.
3. I began to meditate. I have a whole post about this coming out soon, but there’s this app that I’ve been using which puts my constant nervous thoughts to rest before bed. This sets me up for a good rest and a better day tomorrow.
4. I acknowledge it. My friend recommended this to me after reading about it in a book called Girl Online, and I've found that this helps to soothe panic faster than if you try to fight it.

So that’s all for today. Please if you need to talk about it, leave a comment or send me an e-mail and we can work together on this. x

Note: Since writing this, I just wanted to reiterate that I am a very happy and positive person, I go out with my friends and have a great time, even though anxiety is a part of my life. My anxiety (thankfully) doesn't stop me from doing things, however it makes the build up to the said thing quite difficult. I am doing okay, and I hope you are too. xx