I was reading through many of the post as I normally like to do and it was a reminder to me of a couple of things that helped make my anxiety completely manageable.
For those that suffer with anxiety, many of us develop two things.....Fear and the other is super sensitive body sensations.
I think it is more difficult to take on the fear part without dealing with the body sensation part first in my opinion. You can choose to avoid certain things to calm the fear, but how you think and feel....that you can't always avoid.
It is easy over time to pay more and more attention the sensations we don't like and I think in return it drives the fear and anxiety.
I don't like to use the word control when it comes to anxiety but rather the word manage....I've not been able to control my anxiety but certainly manage it....by learning to manage anxiety it will lessen the sensations and some of the fear as well. When a sensation comes on IE: faster heart rate, chest tightening, shakes, light headed....the list goes on and on...I can't make it just stop, but I can to some extent attempt to take some of the attention off of it, which will cause it to pass much quicker. Certain sensations used to stop me in my tracks and command my full attention, but nowadays when something doesn't feel right or good, I try to continue about my business until it passes...very uncomfortable sometimes but you learn from experience that this is the method that will shorten the the time it takes to rebound.
Bottom line is....if you can develope techniques to lessen the focus and attention you are giving to those sensations....the less time it will take for those really uncomfortable moments to pass and over time...doing this will get a bit easier and be even more effective....After all, at some point to manage and begin to recover you have to face your fears like driving, flying, social gatherings or whatever it is you fear. It will be a lot easier knowing you can get through it by taking some of the attention off of how uncomfortable it feels and ease at least some of the anxiety.....it's all baby steps no matter how you do it....unfortunately there are no quick fixes, but there are methods and there is hope and together it can make a difference....Have a great Holiday weekend, you deserve it.....Best wishes.....Wingman