Hi DW,
I hope this finds you doing okay as it's been a few days since the last post in this conversation. But then again, you may not be feeling great, and that would be fine too. I also struggle with episodes of anxiety that can knock me off my perch of managing well in life. Sometimes I can spook myself into an episode with rumination about 'what if I were to be anxious now?' This is particularly frustrating as it seems so needless and obviously self-defeating. Something for me to work on!
I'm also working on accepting episodes of anxiety - which usually include agitation, distress and insomnia - regardless of the context or impact on my functioning. No, I don't have to like it, but it is happening so my task in the moment is to do what best constitutes care for myself. I think I have spent a lot of time asking for space from others without recognising that I also need to give myself that same space.
I'm coming to the viewpoint/understanding that anxiety is a condition which I can learn to address rather than run from/deny/smother/be distressed by. It's a tendency in my make-up, just like any other medical condition. When I think of it in this way it helps to destigmatise anxiety in my own thinking. I'm just another imperfect and valuable person who is doing their best to manage their health.
Wishing you well DW
