Monday, May 25, 2015

A 22 Year Old With Anxiety! Am I Alone? I Hope Not...

Ok it’s been a month since my last blog and it’s not like I haven’t had the time or anything, because honestly, that is really all I have had lately.  But I feel like I am going through a depression. Maybe I’m being a little dramatic, either way I am finding it hard to find the motivation to do anything. I would get on the computer and open up Word and then….. Bleh…NOTHING. I feel the bed pulling me toward it and I just close everything up and pull the covers over me.
Wow you are pathetic… is that what crossed your mind? Well I’d be shocked if it didn’t because it crosses my mind several times while lying in bed. What is my problem now you ask? EVERYTHING!!!  Ok again with the dramatics, but really nothing has changed from the last blog. What I didn’t mention in the last blog is that I suffer from anxiety. And that is what this blog is going to be about. ANXIETY. If you have it you know how inconvenient it can be and if you don’t have it you just don’t know how lucky you are. There are several types of anxiety that a person can suffer from and there are several things that can cause it. Stress, what you eat, runs in the family, change in hormones, and so much more. Can I just say check, check and check. You know that feeling you get when you’re on a roller coaster and you know the drop is about to come but you’re not quite sure when? Your heart in your throat beating at a hundred miles per minute, you feel yourself holding your breath.
That is what anxiety feels like but at the most inconvenient times. Like driving home , or about to go to bed, or walking down the street, times when there’s really no need for you to feel anxious, that is when anxiety decides to pay you a surprise visit. The scariest part about the rollercoaster is when you finally see it, the drop, that is the moment you realize you have no control of the situation. Well that feeling is also one of the scariest parts about anxiety for me. That moment when I acknowledge the anxiety, the moment that I give it life. At that very moment I find myself thinking of EVERY worst case scenario for any situation that can ever happen to me. Even when I try to think of positive things like my family, well then that leads me to thinking how much I love them and how I can’t live without them and one day they are going to die.
Intense I know. Then I quickly change gears and start thinking about Disney and how much I love Disney.
But then that turns into I’m no longer a little girl and I am getting older and one day I’m going to be dead and that’s it! I’m dead! No more Dilia. Even as I am writing this, my heart is sinking and I’m starting to feel like I can’t breathe. You are insane!! Is that what you’re thinking now? Well yeah that’s the scariest part for me. In that moment I feel like I’m going crazy. 
I have absolutely no control over my own thoughts. Ok, this blog is getting kind of intense and depressing. The point of me explaining all of this is one, just like the first blog, to release stress and anxiety.  Two, it helps other people such as my friends and family understand a little of what I am going through. Three, maybe, just maybe I might be able to help someone who is going through the same thing, or help you understand that person that is suffering from anxiety.   
This is my advice to anyone out there who may struggle with anxiety; search yourself and find that thing that helps distract your mind from anxiety. For example, for me, it’s putting on a movie, taking a shower, or talking to my fiancé. 
However, if I am ever in situation where I can’t do any of those things, I recently learned a new technique that has helped a lot.  Breathe-in for four seconds, hold for two seconds, and then exhale for six seconds. It may seem weird but it works.
Anxiety can really be a scary thing, whether it’s the person going through it or for the people surrounding a person going through it. Everybody in that situation just feels absolutely helpless. But listen to this; even though you feel helpless, you are NOT helpless. You do have control. It may not seem that way in the moment, and believe me I know, but I’ve seen people overcome anxiety and if they can, why can’t I and why can’t you?

My first suggestion is to do what I’ve done, find your distraction. Whether it is watching a moving, taking a shower, listening to music, going for a walk , talking to someone, whatever it may be do it the second you start to feel the anxiety creep in.

Second, really try the breathing techniques and also try meditation (guided mediation for anti-anxiety). They have both really worked for me.

And lastly take time to really think about what is causing your anxiety and understand that it has no control over you and you can overcome it. I am still working on that last part.

Well that’s all for now. Until my next break from reality, stay stress free. 

And if you would like try out the mediation here's a link to a guided meditation for anti-anxiety :

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