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. 😊

[Andy_7]

I woke up Saturday morning at 2 am, not an unusual occurrence during the past few months. But this one was different. The question to myself came up....are you o.k.....pause, pause, pause....and then the answer, NO I am not o.k. For the next 2 hours I was debating this answer with myself. Took my memories back to 2010, the year when I was diagnosed with severe anxiety. I fought hard against it and managed to deal with it and stopped medication by the end of 2013. It was a tough 3 year battle but through support from family and my doctor I managed to gain back the life I wanted. The events that lead up to my severe anxiety in 2010 are to much to write here.

Back to the present, 2019 has been a very difficult year. 1) Loss of a parent, 2) my child has battled depression over the past 7 months and 3) financially I am in a bad position. So I asked myself on Saturday morning, why have you been lying to yourself and to others during the past 9 months? See, every day people ask “ how are you “. The standard answer “ good, how are you? “.....
Not true at all! I could have won an Oscar award with my acting “ Good “ in the past few months, but now I have put myself in a position where I could potentially fall back to where I was in 2010.

I will not let this happen and through my admission to myself and others since Saturday I already feel relieve and in fact I slept much better the past 2 nights.

The positive I want to bring here is:

1) Recognise and acknowledge your emotions/signs early enough

2) Don’t keep it to yourself. You have people around you that can and will help

3) Through processes, counselling and/or medication and lastly but very important TIME you will return to live a life that you want

4) If you had your anxiety under control and life is pushing a bit on the hard side, don’t wait to act and don’t give up

I also realised now more than ever the importance to become involved and to talk about anxiety. So many people need to hear the positives as well.

Thank you for starting this thread.

Andy

[RicardoD]

Good post Andy! It's almost like a knee-jerk response sometimes, far easier to just say "yeah am good" rather than tell the truth by saying, "actually, not very good at all" . . . I always think that's the mark of a friend or at least someone that cares - whether they baulk at your admission or they're willing to listen. It does go both ways though - I often ask people how they are and sometimes I'm in a rush and sometimes not, I try to always listen to the answer and not just hear the words. Make time for the people that need help, one day you may need them in return.

Hope your week last week continued on an upward trend. Being honest with others is as important as being honest with yourself.

[Andy_7]

Thanks Ricardo,

Last week unfortunately had a downward trend but I had a call late last week from a friend and although he is in another country he gave me the one thing that I needed.....his time and a person I could talk to, somebody that listens. That is what makes him and people like yourself so special, you offer your time and you care to listen. Thanks for that mate, you are so right in saying that we should all make time to listen to others because we might need them to listen to us later in life!

Andy

[quirkywords]

Waves to all,

You wrote that your friend.. gave me the one thing that I needed.....his time and a person I could talk to, somebody that listens. That is what makes him and people like yourself so special,.

Thanks for that sometimes we forget it isn't about sharing meals or going out to movies, but phoning a friend you have not spoken to for a while, checking up on a neighbour or ringing a family member you have not contacted for a while.

I was inspired by you and contacted a friend I hadn't communicated with for months.

Quirky

[Sarah_31]

Hi Everybody,

I have struggled with social anxiety all my life and found it hard to keep friends due to being afraid to meet up with them in social settings.

Being a musician, I realised I could push through this, by going busking and putting myself out there.

Long story short its helped alot.

Has anyone else been through social anxiety?

[SDeliahS]

Hi everyone,

There was a time a couple of years ago when I wasn’t sure whether I was ever going to get better.

My anxiety was severe, I would shake uncontrollably when talking to people, would be overwhelmed and dizzy in public spaces and had a slew of physical symptoms. (Became severely underweight as my digestion was compromised by the anxiety, heart palpitations, headaches, random pain in my body).

I ended up quitting my job to take the time to ‘repair’ myself. Went to therapy, found a nice doctor that treated my symptoms seriously and never making me feel like an idiot. Exercised, meditated, ate well, faced my fears but gave myself time to rest and repair. And very importantly I learnt that it was ok to feel like absolute crap sometimes. To not try and stop the pain, to acknowledge and feel it. This way I could work through it.

So fast forward to now and my anxiety is very low. I no longer shake, I can eat well again and I feel happy. I am so grateful.

i wanted to share this because I want to let you know that you can get better. When I was at my worst I promised myself that if I got better I would share it here. So here is my message of hope for you - you can get better. This will pass. It is an unbelievably challenging thing to go through, and it’s going to make you so much stronger.

And when you do get better, share it 🙂 share your story so that others that are going through a challenging time can read these endless threads of hope.

[sim777]

What a wonderful outcome for you and your story is beacon of hope for everyone else suffering the same!

Thank you for your post, you've shown amazing conviction and belief in yourself which in turn allows us to learn of your journey.

Happiness and good health to you always !

[Bulus_Shabbaz]

I thought I would be alone this Xmas and I was at a low point. However, my two best friends were also going through some tough struggles, and we all decided that if we are going to spend Xmas alone, we might as well spend it alone together. We laughed, we cried, we broke bread together and opened up to each other. And when it came to me, they set me right back on the straight and narrow. My mates can speak to me in a way that if other people were to say the same things, it would hurt or trigger me, but because they're my mates, they can rip that bandaid right off. I came back home today, an all the unneeded anxiety I have been experiencing since moving into my new home has now washed away. Sure, I am always going to be somewhat neurotic, and I have to contend with psychosis, bipolar, and anxiety and OCD. The moral of the story I feel is that being around people you can trust, and supporting others is very therapeutic, not only to them but to yourself.

[Matilda06]

So many of us have been abused thatway.I had years of it.However, I am now 68 and finally learned that you need to take charge,nobody else.I now know everyone gets hurt in some way.Accept that,dont let so called experts make you feel damaged in any way.You are not!You were hurt.Take charge,dont let anyone dramatize your experience. That way lies lifelong psychiatry!drugs ,stigma and probably hospitalization.Experience of 40 yrs of well intentioned but misinformed help.

[jemma09]

Greetings everyone! I will share my positive story today.

Something I have not done before is attend regular therapy. I had always said to myself "I don't need that" and convinced myself that it was weak to ask for help with anxiety. I tried to hide it deep inside my mind and pretend it was not there.

However, a month or two ago I was referred to Headspace for the second time. The first time I went I was not as interested in helping myself and gave up. Just told them I was 'fine'. This time, I decided to stick with it and it has been great. I have a wonderful therapist who is very supportive and understanding. She can explain things to me and suggest helpful activities. I won't lie - it has been/is hard to face my anxiety as I have always kept it locked up for so long. It is still a road ahead but it has been such a positive experience for me. It is nice to think that I always have someone to talk to without being judged. I am more hopeful that in the future I can be more confident and positive in many areas of my life.

Thank you for reading.

I hope that reading this helps someone. I hope that you can all find some positivity and support in your lives. Take care and be kind to yourself 🙂