Battling Anxiety.

For as long as I can remember I've been battling the terrible mental disease of severe anxiety. I've tried everything to keep it together, and even though I've taught myself a little bit about how to handle myself, for the main part my anxiety has stayed as strong as ever. It has refused to respond to CBT, medication, books, techniques and anything you'd find on Google. 

Today I'm not posting to make you all melancholy and depressed, I'm posting to let people like me know that they're not alone, and I'm posting to give you all some tips that may make battling this thing better on a daily basis. Even if you don't struggle with anything like this, it may be therapeutic for you anyway! 

1. Start a diary. This has been surprisingly helpful for me for times when I've felt particularly anxious. It's not something I write in every day, it's something I use to express my negative thoughts. I write them down, shut my diary and at the same time shut out my troubling issues. 

2. Don't go into situations with expectations. This is a terribly hard thing for me to do without having to remind myself constantly; I find that it has become a subconscious habit of mine to enter situations with expectations of how it should turn out. This is all good and well until these "expectations" aren't filled and panic occurs. Remind yourself, write it in your diary, say it out loud "don't have pre-expectations!" 

3. Meditation. Personally I'm still getting to grips with this whole meditation malarkey, but for the most part it gives me some relief before bed and helps me sleep. I've kind of invented my own method, where before bed I do a few stretches, turn off the lights and breathe in and out really slowly ten times in bed. This isn't anything hardcore but it's definitely good to give myself that relaxed routine before sleep! 

4. Sleep troubles. The worst kind of thoughts appear to most during the night. Its not easy for people with anxiety to get and stay asleep. My tip for this is to a) practice meditation b) make your room the right temperature and c) enjoy some relaxing rain sounds. Focusing on these really help me to take my mind off the reality for awhile, I find that my mind wanders into imagination and I fall asleep. Again this is a simple yet relaxed form of meditation. Try it! 

5. Leave daily thoughts for the daytime. Stuff like work, assignments, meetups and tomorrow's worries should be left for consciousness. Once you lay down your aim should be to disallow these thoughts from your bed, and most importantly your mind. If you find yourself drifting to them again, focus on those rain sounds!

6. When you're feeling anxious just turn off the phone. Just turn it off. Or if you need it for something only allow yourself to check it at certain times. I find that I get most anxious when people don't reply to my messages, so I get possessive and read back on the conversations to see what I've done, even though 99% of the time it's nothing. 

Have you got any tips for anxiety?

Emily.

Credit 1, 2.