Hi Cwzg
My heart goes out to you, given how crippling the anxiety and depression is for you. An incredibly challenging way to live for so many different reasons. I find that with anxiety and depression having roots in physical, mental and even soulful factors or causes, the list of what works can vary depending on the cause. What comes to mind in regard to what makes the biggest difference is 1)the most effective support, 2)the most relatable research and 3)the ability to feel.
Without the most effective support, we can feel completely lost and alone. With supportive guides (who can perhaps relate through personal experience at times), not only can they lead the way but they can help shed light on a whole number of things that aren't always that easy to see in highly stressful or incredibly dark times in life. They can also share their vision for us so that it makes the next step or next goal on our path much clearer to us. The question becomes 'Who are the best supports/guides for me?'. Professionals? People who can relate? Friends or family? Outside the square thinkers (especially when nothing inside the square seems to be working)? Authors, YouTubers and such? A particular community of people? Maybe someone else? One of the best pieces of advice ever given to me was 'Choose what you wish to develop at this time in your life and surround yourself with the people who are going to help you develop it. Choose your circle and those people will raise you (your consciousness, your spirits and your abilities or skill sets)'.
Not settling on a particular belief or not settling for what someone says can involve some research. It's like if someone was to say 'Managing anxiety or depression in that way doesn't work and it's a whole load of rubbish' don't automatically believe it. Don't let them lead you to self doubt. Research whether the idea has been proven to work for certain people and research how it works. Btw, you don't have to believe everything you read or hear, sometimes it's about simply imagining it. Personally, I have a meditation purely concocted through my imagination. It helps me manage what can feel depressing or incredibly stressful. Doesn't always work but it does work quite often. Btw, when doing Google searches, be conscious of exactly what you want to know. For example, if you want to research 'The impact of inner dialogue', you might need to be more specific. 'The mental impact of inner dialogue', 'The physical/chemical impact of inner dialogue' and 'The soulful or spiritual impact of inner dialogue' will all give you very different results.
When it comes to feeling or being sensitive, a lot of what we feel or sense runs through our nervous system. We can feel or sense what we imagine, what we believe in or what we think, what our chemistry's doing (too much cortisol or too little dopamine, for example). We feel or sense the words that are spoken to us or the words that are spoken within us (our inner dialogue). We sense what we see, what we smell, what we touch and so on. We sense the people in our life, their emotions, demands, level of support etc. Too much stimulation or too little can impact how we're feeling or sensing in life. For an insensitive person, life may be relatively easy to manage. For a highly sensitive person who has the ability to sense so much, this can require a massive amount of self understanding and self mastery.
Perhaps the kinds of questions that may help, to begin with, are
- What type of circle or support network do I want to begin developing?
- What type of research do I want to begin doing, when it comes to discovering exactly how I tick? What specifically am I most interested in searching for?
- What do I want to begin sensing or getting a feel for? With this one, I've found over the years that it's less about 'I don't want to feel anxiety or depression' and more about 'How do I gain a sense of peace or ease' or 'How do I gain a sense of feeling raised or gain a sense of liberation from what leads me to feel so down?'. The focus shifts toward gaining, as opposed to it remaining on suffering. Btw, I'm a realist. It can feel impossible to shift that focus at times, especially when we're feeling so incredibly lost and overwhelmed. ❤️
