Posted 9/8/2015 3:30 AM (GMT 0)
I wanted to give you all an update and extend some tips I found really useful in the last couple of weeks. I have to say I am feeling 95% better and while I am still having some toilet issues and I am definitely not eating properly yet. Things are looking up. On the not eating point, I had to laugh at my boss the other day when he commented on how I had lost weight and he could see it in my face ha! I told him it was because I had taken up swimming, which is a half truth, I have but I'm not eating like I used to. It is a scary symptom of anxiety but now I have accepted why my appetite is down I'm not so worried about it. I'm keeping up my body fluids with lots of peppermint tea, water, juices and small meals so I won't starve. I'm ok.
I got some of these tips from an absolutely amazing post by another user Pooldrops5. If you read this, it's thanks to you that I'm feeling much much much better thank you thank you thank you:
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=9&m=3488150
What I have found works for me:
1. Sleep, sleep, sleep. Even if it is broken, I am letting myself lie in bed at the weekends for an hour or so longer if I need to. Bed earlier, reading books, earplugs and eye mask on and accepting the morning anxiety of getting out of bed as a by-product of thoroughly deep sleep.
2. I haven't quit coffee (I have only ever had one cup a day in forever) but I'm avoiding alcohol like the plague. It's been a chicken and the egg thing for me. What came first? The anxiety or the wine? All I know is that through my research alcohol is poisonous for our fragile, vulnerable, prehistoric brains. It shrinks our brain muscles makes them weak and leaves us very susceptible to anxiety and depression. Give it up for a while, put down the smoking gun and live life without it. It's so much better. I'm not sure if you can message me privately or not but I have joined another online movement dedicated to this if anyone is interested I can let you know what it is (admin I hope that is ok?)
3. Exercise, I know I know everyone says it but I can hands down tell you it is the best medicine. I have rediscovered swimming and tonight I am going home to grab my gear for a yoga session I have been meaning to go to for months! Honestly, I can't tell you how much this will help you.
4. I've taken heed and stopped being afraid of myself. For a long time I couldn't see how I was in control, I thought the anxiety and the thoughts were in control. They are not, they are NOT in control. They are not facts, nothing in your head is true. The only thing that is true is that you are here, in the moment and you can't change the past or control the future. The only thing that exists is the fact you are reading this post now. Stay in the moment, recognise the thoughts as an imaginary world and hold on to any glimmer of light you have, even if it is 5 minutes of peace.
It is possible to live without this. Remember, the world is changing and that's why more and more people are feeling this way. We no longer have tigers and mammoths chasing after us but we have constant emails, phone calls, bad news, good news, medical issues, traffic, pressure, pressure, pressure. Our minds think they are still protecting us from the tigers and the mammoths but they're not, they are killing us. Our world is changing and we have to change with it. We have to be mindful, we have to change the way we think.
Look at it this way - you have anxiety because it is trying to tell you something. It is trying to tell you to look after yourself more and adapt, you have to evolve. Those people who don't have anxiety will suddenly be faced with it when the world changes again (when people can ring us in our sleep through brainwaves or some other sci-fi crap) and where will we be? The ones who have learned? We'll be ignoring the ringing and sleeping mundfully, peacefully and in CONTROL.
I wish you all a happy day/evening and lots and lots of love x