What do you do when anxiety flares up again?

[Here_I_am]

So I've been coping well over the past couple of months, even though there has been a fair bit of stress going on with a change of job, some re-jigging of finances, and managing my first experience of anxiety which manifests in a constant state of nervousness and regular wakings during the night with (relatively minor) panic attacks. I've been relatively symptom free for around 10 weeks now, but just over the weekend I noticed the low grade chronic feeling of alertness and racing thoughts starting up again, and last night I had the return of the waking up with a real jolt a couple of times thinking about how much I am not enjoying my current job and worrying again about stability and what I can do to safeguard my future.

I ride my pushbike to work a couple of days a week, which is a gruelling and solid 65 kilometre round trip. I very much enjoy this as it's great self care, a fantastic challenge (especially in the Darwin heat!), and leaves me feeling quite energised for the day. This morning however, I did the ride but felt like I was on autopilot. My vision was tunnelled, and I didn't even get to marvel at the beautiful paradise that I live and work in as it came to life around me.

I am on meds, and have made an appointment with my GP to try and get my mental health plan changed to a different psychologist as I didn't get a great deal from my first assigned psychologist under the plan.

I'm just curious - for those who are further on up the road in their anxiety journey, is it something that comes and goes (obviously with stress and circumstances) even when you're doing everything right and taking really good care of yourself mentally and physically?

I guess I'm just looking for some reassurance that I'm not going to fall as far as I did when anxiety first introduced itself to me. That was a dark place and I don't want to go back there. Surely there is some capacity to catch myself or control the fall?

Hopefully this is just a bad couple of days. 🙂

[Courage2020]

Lately my anxiety flares up again almost everyday for more than one month already.I did sitting meditation & breath counting meditation.both methods useful most of the times.

[Anxoid]

I've had numerous bad anxiety periods, over 25 years or so. Im having a pretty bad one right now, in fact. It comes and goes, for sure. I think knowing it can get better has been quite useful.

I think you'll marvel at nature again.

Your idea of finding ways of catching yourself, before you fall too far, is a good one. I wish i knew how to do it! I seem to just let things creep up on me, falling into bad habits, and such.

I'd like to hear from anyone who has any ideas on this as well, because I'm pretty bad at it.

[Anxious_Cat]

Hi, I’m the same. We just bought a new car and the stress of making the right decision has consumed me and my thoughts. It was a lot of money but still I don’t seem to be happy about it and I feel so ungrateful about it all. I have never owned a new car so it is all new to me. Im just hoping going to see a psychologist next week will help. I’m sure with your circumstances being triggered by everyday things you are experiencing the same feeling. Feeling fear of the unknown. As long as we understand how we are feeling and how to cope I’m sure it will be ok. It’s easy for people to say it’ll be ok but when you have anxiety your thoughts take over. I to exercise which helps my mental state of mind. But some days you just want to close your eyes and forget what is around you. I hope this helps.