Strategies I Use For Anxiety

Hey Guys!!

You may have seen 2 weeks ago that I wrote a post about my story with Anxiety. You can have a read of that post here if you like.

For today I thought I would share with you how I deal with it and what strategies I use.

So let's begin!

1. I usually ring Llewellyn as my first port of call as he is very good at calming me down and just talks me through my panic attack. I will take deep breaths and he will count me through them.

2. This may sound really strange but I will literally stand in front of the mirror and give myself a pep talk. I will talk myself through what I am about to do, I will tell myself that I will be fine and also take deep breaths.

3. I will take myself away from the situation, make myself a cup of tea and indulge in a book. This is because I am then concentrating on what I am reading rather than what it is that's making me anxious.

4. Run a hot bubble bath. I literally just relax, I put a face mask on, put some music on and escape. It feels nice just to be in my own little bubble in the bathroom and have 5 minutes to myself.

5. This is a last resort and is only if I feel like the Anxiety is completely taking over. I will go to the Drs and ask if she can put my anti-depressants back on prescription. To be honest this hasn't happened in a long time but does if I'm having an extreme 'flare up'.

I hope this helps with any ideas of how to possibly deal with an attack or if it just shows you an insight to how many of us deal with it. Everybody deals with it differently though and these are just the ways I do.

How do you deal with Anxiety?

See You Soon!! 

Anxiety & Me!

Hey Guys!!

Looking back I don't think I ever noticed really that I had anxiety at the time, now I can see that when I was crying and feeling panicked that was due to anxiety. This was back when I was 15/16 and that was when I found out I had an Underactive Thyroid. 

Fast forward to when I was 19 and that's when I actually realised I had anxiety. This was due to the fact that 3 months after I moved out with Llewellyn for the very first time our flat got broken into. It was the one day I decided to go out and I came back to the flat trashed and a lot of our stuff was gone. After that I was so panicked and crying all the time, it took me ages to be able to actually leave the flat which affected my college course at the time. If we had to go out for a meal I would have a panic attack, if we were going to the cinema I would have a panic attack and that cycle continued for a long time.

In roughly 2012, I think I can't really remember to be honest, I finally got the courage to go to the Drs about it. It helped that my friend at the time came with me for a bit of support as I didn't really tell anyone other than Llewellyn and her how I felt. It was such a relief to get a sort of weight off my shoulder and know that I can now deal with it with help rather than on my own. This was when I went on to anti-depressants.

They helped a bit for a while but I found I was able to deal with it without medication as I was having support from family and friends. We then moved and for a little bit my anxiety got worse due to a creepy, alcoholic, neighbour and again I would get panicky leaving the flat, I would also shut off all the lights and lock myself away in the bedroom. It was ridiculous how bad it was so I made the decision of going back on anti-depressants and to look for a new place to live.

So fast forward to the present day!! I am in a new place which we have been in for over a year now and is so much better. I would like to say I am 'better' now in the sense of I don't take anti-depressants anymore and haven't for a long time. I still get anxious, as it never truly goes away, which is the same for all mental health issues. I can definitely deal with it better now as I know when it is 'coming', if that's the right word to use. It only tends to flare up now if I am going to a new place as I don't know where everything is and it's worse if Llewellyn isn't with me. Also it flares up when I don't know what to expect from a situation, if that makes sense, like I get really panicky/have a panic attack if I am going to the Dentist for the first time or to see a new Dr for the first time, basically the first time for everything is always scary to me.

And that is my Anxiety story, I thought I would share, even though it is quite rambly and long, as it is a lot more common than people think, and I don't think there is enough awareness raised for any Mental Health Issue.

I hope anybody that reads this can gain some awareness from it.

If you would like to see a post on the techniques I use to help with my Anxiety and Panic Attacks, let me know in the comments below!! 

Hope you are all having a good day!!

See You Soon!!