Your positive story... please share

[Lind779]

Hi everyone,

I would love to hear your stories on how you overcome your anxiety or improved life with anxiety...

I know majority of us don't refer to these online forums when feeling great but if there are some, like myself that stay on here to help support others, please share. 😊

[Muddlee]

Hi rising star,

I'm sure its just a bit of setback. I go through really unexplainable periods of anxiety where stress, new environments or even random fluxes in my anxiety can trigger some bad patches. But the more I accept these feelings the less noticeable they are so i'm sure you'll get through this rough patch stronger then you were before.

Muddllee

[Emma77]

So in a nutshell, anxiety sucks. After a particularly bad day, when I was convinced that things could only get worse, I was lucky enough to find this website. And the feedback that I’ve received has been great at helping me try (I say try as I’m not always successful!) to keep things in perspective. I’ve found the courage to kind of challenge myself with exposure to public places. Some of you may have seen the thread about me going shopping – yay! Well I’ve been shopping a few times since then, and I’m finding the validation of the world not ending SO helpful. I guess I felt that I was winning because I wasn’t having panic attacks, but what I was really doing was not risking having a panic attack in the first place. Now I’m at the back of the supermarket, getting the sausages, knowing that I might ‘freak out’ but doing it anyway. And I don’t freak out, and I don’t faint, and I don’t run screaming from the supermarket. It seems that each time I do it, it’s further proof that I can do more. I’m still terrified. And I still wish I wasn’t terrified. And I’m terrified that one day I’ll be too terrified to keep going. But at the moment, I seem to be creating this kind of snowball effect of challenging and conquering. I’d still cut off my right arm if it would cure the panic attacks, but this winning feeling is kind of nice xx

[Just Sara]

Hi Emma77!

Oh my goodness...how proud am I of you?! Pushing the boundaries while terrified is such a brave thing to do. I know all too well how busy places can challenge even the best of us.

My last post here to share my experience was a little while ago, and much has happened in that time. I'm a person who pushes myself too and I'm benefiting from my courage. I'm not saying I didn't feel the pangs of anxiety or panic during this time, don't get me wrong...I spent much time curled up in a ball while the anxiety med's kicked in. But I self assess after an attack to find if there's a 'trigger' I can deal with.

For instance; I received a call from someone trying to sell me insurance and allowed her to ramble on while I was walking through a shop. I told her a couple of times I was there and couldn't make a decision on the spot, but she kept on. I even told her I was having head spins and was light-headed. After I hung up, I had anxiety for hrs but worked out it was because I didn't tell her she was invasive and insensitive; I have issues with these types of situations...fear of repercussions for speaking up.

The anxiety stopped after I realised what the trigger was. I'm learning from my own experience and forging on to challenge old habitual thinking and responses. But more than this, I'm creating a new way of living my life.

I wish you well in your future endeavours also...xo

[Emma77]

Thanks Dizzy!

I hate admitting that such simple things are a struggle, but when I recognise that they are, then I need to congratulate myself for doing them. I’ve kind of been in denial for a few months (probably still am with some stuff) but now that I’ve been questioning things, it’s amazing what voices have been in my head that I’ve been ignoring (my own self-talk voices, not actual hallucination voices). Even things that might have seemed ‘positive’. I think I’ve been telling myself that I’d challenge the anxiety when I felt better, but this is not my first time, and I know how useless that thought is (for me anyway). I won’t feel better UNTIL I challenge it. Or find a miracle cure. Which I guess means I need to go shopping every day. And not just at the front, but right down the back where the really scary panic attacks are. I know this feeling won’t last, and I need to be ok with that. But today it’s like Bring Em On, coz they’re just panic, and I’ve dealt with worse! And hopefully each panic attack that I face and defeat lessens the impact of the inevitable next one.

I don't feel that I have a lot of triggers. It's more that I tell myself if I do something, then I will feel bad. And that usually comes true, so I can't / don't do that thing. It's kind of empowering saying yeah, I felt like crap, but I did it coz I could, and now I have a choice about what to have for dinner tonight!

[Lind779]

Wow Emma, you're extremely brave and you empower me to keep fighting!

Being pregnant is harder than I could ever have imagined when you have anxiety. I knew I would experience anxious feelings but not extreme anxiety. Its like all my hard work in the last 6 months has gone out the window and Im back to square one!

Lets just say, this week has been dreadful and now worried if I can physically and mentally carry this child.

Im going back to basics and at least the last couple of days have been bearable and getting a little more sleep.

Just need to be told that this is normal and that everything will be ok 😔

[Emma77]

Hey Lind,
I’ve never been pregnant, so I can’t tell you what’s normal, but I can give you a big hug xx.
It’s great to hear that you put in 6 months of hard work when you felt capable of it. And it’s great if right now you recognise that you need to just look after you and your little one. Even if that means ‘going back to basics’ and making sure you get enough sleep.
It’s funny, because I’ve felt that I’ve had the panic cured for the last ten years, and now it’s hit me again, and having to force myself to go shopping is going back to basics… for me. I guess we can only face the challenges as they pop up in our own lives, and only face them when we feel ready. And I’m sure that pregnancy is having a huge impact on all the chemical levels in your body, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Have you
popped over to the pregnancy thread? They may have better advice than I do?

[MarkJT]

I remember a few days after i got out of hospital, post PTSD/depression/anxiety diagnoses, i went for brekky with my wife. Ordered bacon and eggs on sour dough and then my knife wasn't sharp enough to cut through the sourdough. It was a nice lesson this one as i looked at my wife and she noticed that i wasn't well with it. I could feel myself building up to a full blown anxiety attack. My body heated up massively (which is my first sign of an impending attack), i felt the chest tighten, started to shake and then i looked around for something to fixate my concentration on. I noticed a deep gold colored milk dispenser, i stared at it and soaked in how deep the color was and then i felt myself calming down. I got back to being myself, amazed at how quickly and powerfully the anxiety came on but equally amazed at how i successfully took it on and had a win. Gave me enormous confidence which really held me in good stead in my recovery. It was a very simple lesson in mindfulness that gave me the idea on concentrating on something to ground myself. Fair to say i was pretty happy i went to that mindfulness lesson in hospital!!

[Quiette]

Thank you for your post MarkJT. I can relate to it. Today I experienced something similar when I felt the increase in an already barely held panic. I focused on the shape and movement of hanging plants, again in a cafe. It gave me enough mental space I suppose to breathe slower and stave off the terror. It can be very hard, in those moments to focus enough to reach out to a tool like that. But, the heartening thing is that it is possible. Thank you again.

[Guest_322]

What a wonderful thread?! LOVE the concept 😊

My positive story is a simple one: my future

From this moment onwards are words that I swear by.

Dottie x

[MarkJT]

Quiette - that is so awesome that you are able to do that and bring yourself back down to ground. Well done. The more that you do that, the better you will become at it.

Dottie - that is brilliance - "my future". Outstanding positivity!!!