I suffer from generalized anxiety disorder, and I have a conscious choice to make each day; do I allow anxiety to rule my world or do I rise above it so that anxiety is a small piece of who I am? I always choose to rise above it. Anxiety is a real issue and not everyone can overcome and fight it in the ways I am capable of, for that I feel grateful. You see life is a roller-coaster ride, it can be totally awesome for this uphill climb and then something happens that throws a slight curve where you are thrown to the left for a bit, but you can always continue to climb upward if you so choose. The decision is yours.
Anxiety is a serious issue that affects many people, both adult and children alike, and there are fantastic medicines out there that some have to take in order to live a full life; but I choose not to use medicine. Maybe it is because the one time they did put me on something for anxiety, I felt so numb that I didn’t care about anything; the best way to describe how I felt taking anxiety medication was that I could have had my thumb cut off and smiled about it. That isn’t curing anxiety, that is literally making you live in a way you would live if you were on street drugs, in my opinion.
Once I made a conscious decision to handle my anxiety on my own, without medications, of course after many counseling sessions, it was pretty cut and dry for me. Even now, anxiety gets built up sometimes, but I have found my anxiety mostly builds up when I am not following a path of my true calling. I personally feel that, after all I have been through, it’s about time to start sharing my story. I have a calling to share my life story as a means to uplift others or inspire others; honestly all that I wish about my world is to be in a position where one blog post helps one person. One smile I share at a store with another random stranger helps them have a better day.
I do run into times when I have to be in an environment that tests my true strength as an individual who prefers to fight forward without prescription or street drugs. I prefer to be strong; I feel a sense of pride in being able to conquer it all with the help of my inner circle of friends. What I have done when I am forced upon an environment that maybe isn’t ideal for the path of my positive future is this:
- Remind myself that I am in control of my feelings, my life, my actions and my responses.
- Remind myself that I can overcome this situation, for I cannot control how another person reacts, behaves or speaks.
- Focus on my end goal, everyone should have a goal in life and when they reach said goal, they should set another one. Focus on the goals you set for your own self and your own life!
- Just breathe. Honestly that is the simplest advice I can lend to you; breath before you do anything. Simply breathe and shrug it off, literally!
While the above four key points may make you want to scream at me because they sound too simple and during an anxiety attack they are not so easy to do. I invite you to practice the above four key points, each day. Keep moving forward and working to be who you are deepest within your soul. Anxiety can kiss you goodbye as a control factor in your life, if you only practice the above four key points in life each and every day!
Anxiety can be so hard to deal with! Remembering to just breathe- deeply and slowly- can be such a big help when it hits.
I deal with anxiety that are situational. For the most part, my day to day life is just fine, but it only takes one thing to make those situation anxieties to go into overload. I need to use some of your techniques to get through those moments.
Your tips are really great! I think that everyone can benefit from reading and applying them to everyday life 🙂
Thank you for sharing how you handle anxiety. I don’t have a constant issue with it, but since my divorce, I have a really hard time with anxiety. I started taking Xanax to deal with it but wish I could find an all natural way to deal with it!
Just breathe – a great reminder for anyone, not just those dealing with anxiety. I hope anyone who suffers can get control of it – naturally or with medicine.
What an awesome post, thanks for all your tips. I go through periods of heavy anxiety an always need to remind myself that I can overcome this and focus on my goal. Thanks for speaking up, much appreciated makes me see that I’m not alone
Thank you so much for sharing this. I am a lot better now but I started to suffer from Anxiety a few years back when I was in a extremely abusive relationship. After I got out it took me a couple of years to stop having those feelings. it was not easy.
I have frequent anxiety attacks (they’re pretty bad) and breathing don’t always work for me. I usually go outside to get a little fresh air to take myself away from the situation. That has worked wonders for me.