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 Comets,

Love your story dude. Acceptance and mindfullness are two of my main strategies for coping and overcoming my anxiety. Takes time for the skills to take affect, but once practiced and given plenty of breathing space to develop can be very effective.

Muddleee

[Comets]

I early on choose an antidepressant. I wish I hadn't. Side effects and now withdrawal from not taking it are worse than anxiety but I know my brain needs a long time to adjust, especially with this drug. Be careful with medication.

[LaraW]

Hi Lind779! This is such a lovely idea to share our struggles and joys together!

My story starts out a little unexpected. Growing up, I was the happy, smiley girl who always shared a relentless positivity, hope and optimism for the world. I didn't take life too seriously, and I was a lover of all things fun! Because of this however, nobody expected it when i said i was struggling. For a long time, I didn't really feel like i was taken seriously, and my mates, didn't really know how to help me. My family told me, oh don't worry, be happy which is super hard when you're stressed! When i got to school however, I experienced a lot of awful bullying, grief and physical abuse which really took a hit to my self esteem and confidence! I became more quiet, introverted and i bottled up a lot of awful feelings of discouragement and worthlessness inside, and I felt really alone. It was horrible. I began to over think situations, and believed that nothing could feel right again, that i was now sad, and a total loser which was honestly so far from the truth! In reality, I was a great artist, a writer, I played lots of sports and learned piano, violin, flute, guitar, drums, ukulele and did singing lessons. I had a great family, and a few friends who were a great support network during this time. Everything seemed great right?! On the outside, I was totally fine, but on the inside I was experiencing doubts, and I slowly slipped into a pattern of low self esteem, where I never truly felt like I was good enough. I became ambitious, I strove for more, I compared myself to others and I stopped caring for my body and my health. This took a massive hit for me during my university years, as i felt so behind the crowd as a result of the struggles i've been bottling up for years. Because of my low self confidence, I couldn't find work, get my license or engage in positive relationships. I had regular panic attacks and felt like a total failure. I saw the counsellor at uni, and that helped me to deal with study stress, but ultimately i still felt at a total loss. Until my third year of uni. It was in my third year of uni that i truly learned what self care meant. I saw a new psychologist who was a huge help to me, and helped me to understand my struggles, my battles and to empathise with myself and my past experiences, to learn to catch the negative thoughts and recognise the positive reality, that hey life is actually a blessing and really great and that I am actually good enough.

[LaraW]

It was after seeing this psychologist, that I learned some amazing mindfulness techniques including deep breathing exercises, challenging negative thought processes and responding with what i knew was the truth, monitoring how many commitments i could take on in line with my current model of self care, engaging the 5 senses to combat panic attacks and just recognising how deep and problematic my anxiety had become and empathising with the little girl who was struggling inside, while also recognising i am not defined by my struggles with anxiety. I also gradually became confident enough to exercise, practice yoga, do dance, music, art, i learned to laugh and be happy and optimistic again, with the help of an amazing church community who have supported me the whole way. I started to take driving lessons, volunteer in the hopes of finding work, take on leadership and ministry opportunities, and to be honest I'm feeling pretty optimistic and hopeful for the future! Life is still a challenge, I still experience panic attacks and anxiety and it's definitely not easy, but its about the healing journey and experience, not the destination, as cheesy as that sounds and I feel like i've come a long way! I hope this post can encourage others to keep fighting your battles, because you are worthy. You are enough. Youre not defined by your anxiety, nor by what you do. You are a beautiful person who is going through a really tough time right now, and you know what? That's okay! 🙂 Take things at your own pace, one step at a time 🙂 I'd love to encourage other people to take small steps to make sure they're alright- meet up with friends, go for a walk, pursue your passions, laugh, cry, eat chocolate, have a nice warm bubble bath, smile, dance, buy the freaking shows. Because if you're suffering from anxiety and/or depression and your still here, you are stronger, more beautiful and more powerful than you know, your not weak or worthless, you are an absolute warrior who deserves the best. If you're still struggling and its tough to turn to family and friends, I want to encourage people too to seek out the help of a psychologist, because in truth, it's actually radically helped me to pursue self love and self care and for me it's totally been worth it. You can go to your GP and write up a mental health plan, and receive a referral for treatment by a psychologist. its a really hard, emotionally exhausting process, but i want to encourage you to keep persevering! Love Lara. x

[Fragment]

Hi lind779,

Bit of a postitive storie from myself.

I was struggling with everything from my day to day life because of anxiety. I was unable to function like a rational person and quickly became depressed. I have lost my apartment. My day job. And a relationship because of this state. But i have begun to heal drastically by talking to my gp and a councilor(she is fantastic!!) Slowly but surley everything is falling back into place in my mind and i am not afraid anymore. But i will keep pushing to be well again.

[something_missing]

hi lara have just read ur post from aug 11 .just magnificent.u have going from struggles to a strong amazing person and have been able to share ur experiences. sounds like u got fed up with what was happening and took the bull by the horns and nothing could stop u .i hope other people r reading ur post and can get great encourgment from ur story.congradulations u r a inspiration to others. life is great keep smiling

[Bettyboo79]

HI there, I'd be really interested to hear how often you saw your counsellor, and how it was affordable? Is through the mental health care plans? Thanks.

[Xela58]

I was an extremely shy kid, my father was a violent alcoholic and beat me at times. When I was 14 my mother attempted suicide. She blamed us kids and deserted us to live with her new female partner. We didn't know where she was. I smoked dope as a teenager, didn't like it, but it made me feel part of something. I wasn't just shy, I was mute. People thought I was intellectually disabled. At night school when asked to read aloud to the class, I had a panic attack. I went to a doctor who only did a physical examination. There was no mention of psychological followup. I assumed it was a failing of mine so tried harder. In time I was able to attend meetings, speak publically and deliver training adequately by pretending I was fine while internally I was in turmoil. I managed to rise to quite a high position in my job but it took its toll on me. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about 15 years ago after having been treated for anxiety and depression for a long time. Looking back, the BAD diagnosis makes sense. I took early retirement as I was just falling apart psychologically. My workplace was a mental illness factory. It's the drugs that mostly keep me together now, and the CBT I've learned to apply using simple techniques. I studied Counselling for my own benefit, which has made a big difference. Probably the biggest strategy is not seeing people much. I enjoy being alone and have little need to see many people.

[Kristie_8]

I am in the same situation even started clomid which I do not reccomend for anyone with anxiety as the symptoms are 10x worse hence i stopped and now don’t even want to try for a baby until I get my panic attacks under control.

Hopefully with some luck they settle down and try again good luck though and I honestly hope they settle for you soon as I think panic attacks have to be one of the most awful things to go through

[blondguy]

Hello Kristie 8

Welcome to the forums and good on you for having the courage to post too!

Im sorry that you are going through such a bad time with these awful anxiety attacks.

I understand you pain as I started having chronic anxiety in 1983 when I was 23 and they were awful to have

The Good News! My chronic anxiety did decrease after I had a few months of visits to my counselor and GP...Its a hard road but the panic attacks do lessen in frequency and intensity

Its just my experience but super frequent counseling did help a lot. I have been on an SSRI antidepressant when the anxiety became worse and the meds and counseling combined helped so much

When you are up to it you are more than welcome to post your own thread under the 'Anxiety' heading if you wish as you will have heaps of people who have the same anxiety offer their support to you Kristie

The forums are a rock solid safe place to post and are also non judgemental too 🙂

I hope you can stick around...the forums also have social threads like the Beyond Blue Cafe or the Christmas Chillout Lounge too if you want to take it slow

You are not alone here

My Kind thoughts

Paul