Dealing with anxiety 

First off thank you all so much for all the email responses and personal feedback on recent posts. It’s so awesome knowing my posts have made an impact, Thank you!

Today’s post is for anyone suffering from anxiety, now I am not trained in this field nor am I giving you advice with what to do to help you overcome your anxiety, I am simply sharing my experience and what has worked for me. I hope it will encourage you to see a way out or maybe help you understand what someone you love dearly is going through when they tell you they have anxiety 

If you have read my previous posts you would know that I had experienced a bit of trauma during a time daniel and I were on the verge of separating due to a lifestyle with a recipe for marriage failure. During this time I developed anxiety in its worst form! I had never had anxiety before and when I use to hear of people suffering from it I would automatically think , well that’s just stress, snap out of it and think positively  with very little understanding and compassion I do think there is a place for making positive declarations and for thinking positively, but I also think there are many other factors that come into play.

Life isn’t always so cut and dry! There may be factors that affect us such as trauma, pain and physical imbalances.

so if you have never experienced the symptoms of anxiety you might want to check out of this post now but I urge you keep reading as this will help you understand what a person goes through and maybe you will be able to help someone stuck in that very dark hole. 

Anxiety attacks basically feel like you’re dying, literally. Anxiety has physical symptoms like your heart palpitations, sweating, shortness of breath and in extreme cases numbness, shaking , fainting and pain... however the physical symptoms aren’t half as bad as your mental state  and sense of detachment from the world .. 

 sense of detachment from the world! Fortunately I only got attacks at night in bed when almost sleeping  , I know some people who have attacks at work and while driving or in public and my heart really goes out to you I can’t possibly imagine how isolated you must feel :(

In some countries like Canada an anxiety is listed as a disability and people suffering from it and get monetary benefits having being diagnosed .. it’s great that the world is recognizing mental illnesses and addressing them just as important as physical illnesses , just a few years ago there was little research and very little understanding when it came to mental issues and was almost taboo .. there was no silver lining between a healthy mental state or being completely bonkers you were listed on either spectrum and socially people were afraid to speak up .. thankfully that is not the case today and more and more people are speaking out about their mental states.. my point is that it is real and it is important to recognize the symptoms if you are suffering so that you can get help. 

Today I want to give you some hope because I know that without hope life would have no point without it, think back and remember a time when you had no anxiety .. remember that ? Your anxiety started at some point so what can be established from that memory is that it started at some point and evidence that you CAN live without anxiety. 

Thankfully I haven’t had an anxiety attack for over a year now saying this as someone who had attacks as much as 3 times a week! and as hard as it was during that time I made it out! And you can too! 

Prioritize your health

Now I know you must be thinking but Nicole I've heard this a million times already and its still not working! but hear me out this is a vital step you cannot afford to bypass

-  Go outside and get into some sunshine daily the sun is a natural anti depression and is proven to help people relax. Even if you just sit by a sunny window.

- Exercise or go for a walk, yoga really helps me stay grounded.

- Make sure you are getting enough nutrients in your body as chemical imbalances and hormones can trigger anxiety

- Get your hormones checked! for the ladies you know how out of whack you feel right before your period or during and after pregnancy , hormones play a huge role in how well your mind functions.

- I am all for natural ways to manage anxiety but let me start off by saying that I am not opposed to a little help along the way in a safe way. 

> Gaba or Gamma-Aminobutyric acid  - it is an amino acid produced naturally in the brain and just calms you right down.

> Cannabis oil - today the  mind blowing benefits of cannabidoils cant be ignored and I know first hand how it has helped me get my mind right.

You cant control everything

The world is not perfect and many of us face challenging situations in life that send us spiraling. Trauma is considered as a worldwide problem despite socio-economic development. but what might be traumatic to one might not be so for another.. 

When I started learning about my anxiety I realized that  it was triggered by a sense of losing control, I could not control what was happening to our relationship and it caused me to experience fear in the worst possible way.. fear or the future, fear for time lost, fear for my children being another statistic so much fear that crippled me on the inside that it manifested physically. Whether your fear is rooted to a relationship, finances, sickness or at work you need to get a hold of it.

The only way to overcome that fear was to release the control and remind myself that the only way out is through and sometimes we just have to allow situations to dissolve  themselves. Now having said that I am in no way saying just sit back and disengage, I simply mean to recognize that you cannot control a bad situation to happen but you can control how you react and not allow it to consume you. 

Hope 

Hope means that we must trust and wait for what is still unseen. Sometimes when things are falling apart they may actually be falling into place. Hope is not pretending that troubles don't exist it is the hope that they wont last forever. Don't label your anxiety a part of who you are, it is just a season, a bumpy bus ride or mountain to concur until you reach your destination. Whether your hope is in God or a better situation or having your children look up to you, find something that gives you meaning to life and attach yourself to it with a sense of urgency!

Remember to talk to someone ANYONE you feel safe with, I made a mistake of not speaking up and looking back it only isolated me and aided my suffering, sometimes just having someone listen and understand helps you SOOO much.

Empathy says "Let me hold the door for you I may have never walked in your shoes but I can see your soles are worn" maybe you can be that somebody to someone today.

Some helpful links

5 Best TED Talks for Anxiety

5 Ways To Deal With Anxiety and Depression Biblically

How to stop anxious thoughts before they start

How to Help a Friend With Anxiety 

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