How to live with anxiety

According to mentalhealth.org.uk in 2013 there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the U.K. I can only imagine that the statistic is higher now. If you have anxiety, you're not alone.

Anxiety is something I live with and manage every day of my life. Most of the time, my anxiety is manageable and even when it is manageable, I still have twinges of panic. Other days it really does get in the way of life and it affects everything. Anxiety isn't just a mental illness either, the symptoms of anxiety can also manifest physically too.

Every had an anxiety or panic attack? The hyperventilating, the disassociating, the leg jiggling, the physical feeling of dying and all the other illnesses you suddenly have? Yeah, me too but I've tried lots of different techniques and here are the ones that work for me.

Feel the feelings of anxiety, and just go with it.

The thoughts and feelings associated with anxiety can be horrendous. Sometimes trying to fight the anxiety can make things seems worse. Next time you have feelings of anxiety, go with the flow. Rather than fight it, think to yourself 'Ok, here's an anxious feeling. I won't fight, it'll go when it's ready.'

Trust that your anxiety wont hurt you.

There are a lot of reasons anxiety feels so awful. Two of the big ones are because it comes with a bunch of ‘unknowns’, and because the physical feelings don’t make sense. Next time you feel like you're anxiety is harming you, try thinking 'I've had these feelings before, they do pass.'

 Keep a mood diary.

Most of the time the feelings of anxiety feel like they pop up for no reason. Most times there is a reason, you've just not seen it. I found writing a mood diary helped me a lot when I relapsed into whatever hell I was in. As soon as I started feeling anxious, I would write down the time, how I was feeling and what I was doing/thinking of before hand. I found that it would be little things like thinking about something someone had said to me for a split second. That would literally be enough to fill my day with anxiety and fear. Which brings us nicely onto my last tip for today:

Find out what is a rational and an irrational fear.

I found that many of the feelings and thoughts I had were things that I could either solve, needn't worry about or totally irrational. I would wake up in such an anxious state and worry about the post man posting a letter in case I had to go to court or I was in trouble, someone knocking on my door because I thought they would try to arrest me and throw me in jail, someone calling my home phone because I honestly thought social services would take my daughter away. Looking back I really am surprised I didn't have a heart attack with all the stress I put myself through.

What worries you when the post man posts a letter? Think, 'is this fear rational or irrational?' It's not the postman that scares you, it's what's in those letters. Is it all the letters or is it something specific? Can you deal with it alone or do you feel you could use some help? When you start to break things down into manageable and understandable processes, you can deal with the relevant fears rather than the many fears that encompass it.

Focus on the things you have the power to change, rather than the circumstances or realities beyond your control.

You can't stop worrying thoughts, but you can learn to cope.