A couple of weeks ago I posted about my anxiety hitting an all-time high and the urge from my doctor that I needed to break the cycle. While I am still having anxiety issues on a frequent basis, I have started doing a few things to help me deal with my anxiety issues.
Here are the three changes that I am seeing the greatest benefit from so far:
Journaling
Starting a journal was also a New Year’s resolution to help me deal with my anxiety. Each night before we go to bed I take a few minutes to write down my thoughts and things that are stressing me out. Sometimes it is just talking out the day. It has helped a ton. I notice now that when I do wake up at night worrying about something, I fall back to sleep sooner because I know I wrote it down and started to work out my feelings.
Talking
I have trouble communicating my feelings, and I am so thankful that my husband is helping me more than ever to really talk about what I am worrying or thinking about. He listens and talks through things with me. It has helped so much. Things I was looming about are no longer and I already see myself willing to talk even the weirdest topics that I thought were a waste of time in the past.
Taking breaks
At work I am the queen of eating through my lunch or running errands on lunch. Even though running errands is taking a lunch it is still a stress trigger because I was not having time to calm down and reset. So now, I am packing my lunch and for now I am going in my car (not sure what I am going to do in the summer), eating my lunch and reading a book. I notice I am coming back less stressed and have a higher tolerance for dealing with those stressful situations. Even on days that I only have 20 minutes and not a full-hour I am forcing myself to walk away.
Finding inspiration
I have been looking for quotes to continue to inspire and give me strength. There is one quote that I fell in love with by Lao Tzu which says:
I am nowhere near completing my journey and I don’t ever think I will be, but for the first time I in a long time I am feeling the confidence that once again that I am control.
I think you are a strong and amazing person. You will learn to conquer this demon!
I also have anxiety but mine is no where near as bad as a lot of other peoples’ and for that I’m very thankful.
I love that your taking serious steps to free yourself!
I’m here is you ever need to chat!
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Thank you so much for your support and kind words. It means so much to me.
I need to figure out ways to handle my stress at work. Today, I was ready to blow up and leave!
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Hope your day and week got better. “Those” days are the worst.
This is good stuff. I’ve been going back and forth between depression and anxiety during my unemployment. Maybe if I try some of these things, it’ll help me find some peace. Thanks for sharing, Kate.
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Sending big prayers and thoughts of support your way. If you need anything I am only an email way. Big hugs!
I am HORRIBLE about sharing my feelings! I hate talking about things! You can break the cycle!! You’re already doing a great job at it!!
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I am a work in progress and I agree sharing deep thoughts and feelings is SO hard.
Love that quote! I think you are awesome for sharing your story! I know it’s not an easy thing … I get panic attacks a lot
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I love that quote too, well obvi! Panic attacks are so hard and unless someone has them too it is hard to understand why we get so upset.
That quote is awesome. I read during lunch and come back so relaxed. It is also good to get out of the office which helps to de-stress.
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It really does. I think it works so well because it gives us a chance to escape real life.
This is so amazing to read!! I’ve been bringing my kindle to work for a couple weeks now and it’s SO helpful. I feel like I just reset for the rest of my day.
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It is a complete reset. I now look forward to that part of the day.
Those are great tips, I can use some of those too.
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Thanks lady! Thinking about you!
Those are all great ways to cope! I still suffer from anxiety, but I like to call myself a survivor. I have found ways to cope and not have total meltdowns, and I have been anxiety meds free for 2 years now.
Not that everyone can or is able to get to a point when they don’t need meds. You should see the journals I have! I look back and read them now, and am like whoa. I really did need to get a grip.
The biggest thing for me was being able to break the thought patterns. My therapist I used to see helped me with a strategy for dealing with that.
When an anxious thought entered my mind (and one that I knew I would obsess about), I first made myself stop thinking it for a moment. Then I asked myself could I do anything about what was worrying me now? Would I ever be able to do anything to change what I was starting to get anxious about? Learning to let go of the thoughts and worries I couldn’t change was the hardest and best thing that I learned to do. It was my turning around point.
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That is a great method and great perspective! I need to continue on focusing to do that more. You are right, a lot of the things I stress about are so dumb. Thank you so much for your heartfelt comment.