manage anxiety

Anxiety has recently been a thing of the past for me. Pretty cool. I think I’ve just been too busy to be anxious!

It really is, and theres more hills than flats im afraid.
But it can happen.
Of course you have moments when you just kinda lose it and feel so stressed and unable to do anything, just sorta freaking out..but it passes.
Slowly pushing yourself to do things, talk with people in anyway really helps.
Little by little. And before you realise it youve taken a step somewhere that you didnt think was possible.
Being kind to yourself is important, and find someone to be like your ‘safe person’ who you can turn to whenever, or wherever you need them.
That really helps.

but I think I’ve wrestled through the learning and growth I needed about anxiety for now.

Thanks for the cheers and encouragement, folks. This is an old challenge for me, and I’m sure there will need to be another round someday, but for now, I’m where I want to be with it.

writing about this the other day seemed to help, in and of itself. I think it helped to put ol’ Anxiety in her place, someone who hangs around periodically but who is not allowed to get settled in.

I’ve also remembered some things that I learned a long time ago, and apparently needed to rediscover: that for some of us, a certain amount of anxiety just floats in from time to time. It isn’t connected to anything, it just floats. When I allow it to hitch itself to something concrete, though, it immediately sets roots and begins to grow. I’m better off recognizing it as something like dandelion fluff, that floats by and troubles me a little—but if I see any little seedlings, root ‘em out quick. How?

Ask myself:

- What’s the worst that can happen? How bad is that, really? OK, so say it DOES happen - what’s my plan for the worst eventuality?

- Will I care - will anyone care—about X in 5 years?

—Is X really worth losing sleep/being sick/etc?

—If X happens, will my loved ones still love me?

Talk it out with friends.

Talk it out with a mentor.

Notice who has worse problems, and do something for them, instead.

So I searched on “anxiety” to see what words others were choosing, to see what might fit me.

Wow! Such a variety of words. And such a variety of ways to use them. I had to ask myself, “Is this anxiety I feel mine? As in my anxiety? Or is it something outside my core self, something exterior that invades: anxiety? I decided on the latter.

Then I had to decide on verbs. Kill it? Cure it? Zap it? Deal with it? Get rid of it? What precisely do I want to do with this unwanted emotion?

I don’t remember when it wasn’t hanging around; I cannot really imagine what it would be like to be entirely anxiety-free. On the other hand, I can’t say that I know of anything I like about anxiety, other than its familiarity, and I’m not sure “like” is the word I’d use for that.

Since the issue at the moment is that it seems to be rising and getting in my way, I opted for “manage anxiety.” That seems like a reasonable goal. I’ve got lots of mini-goals within the goal; as I do ‘em, I’ll post ‘em. We’ll see how it goes.