Dealing with Anxiety
Hello one and all! It's been quite a while since I last blogged, I've had so much to talk about but not a lot I feel would interest you reading this. A lot has happened and my Summer is rapidly coming to an end, meaning I'll soon be back in Hastings moving into my new house with 8 of my best friends drinking solidly for two weeks throughout Freshers and trying to top my amazing first year.
This post is quite a personal one for me as it's something I've been tackling with for a short while now. I developed pretty bad anxiety just after I came out of my last relationship, in no way am I looking for attention or sympathy here as I really don't need it, I'm absolutely fine, but it was something that shocked me as I'd never had anything like it before. I guess the reason behind this post is to raise awareness as since I developed my anxiety I quickly realised it's actually very common and overlooked. Apparently because it's common that means that it's not as important, which is not the case. It first started for me when I would find that I felt ill a lot of the time, I felt run down and had a serious lack of motivation and willpower (okay, those who know me will know I was never exactly a motivated person anyway but let's just say I was even more unmotivated, which is saying something). I had no energy to do anything and the thought of doing something (especially in a large group) made me feel anxious and as though I was almost on the edge of my seat a lot of the time, this also happened when I thought about having a sit down meal or doing anything that required staying in one place for a period of time, like staying round a friends, going to the cinema etc. The annoying thing was that as soon as I was in my own space (mostly my bed), I suddenly felt absolutely fine and it was then that I realised I wasn't actually ill because I always felt better when I no longer had this "pressure" of doing something. It just wasn't like me so I quickly noticed the difference. I'd find myself having trouble with my breathing and mundane tasks became a challenge.
Anyway, after discussing all of this with my Doctor over the phone, he told me straight away that he would agree with me in thinking it was pinned down to Anxiety. Once I found this out, nothing exactly changed but it felt better knowing there was a reason behind feeling the way I did and knowing it wasn't all just in my head. My Doctor offered me some counselling sessions but as I go back to Uni soon, I politely declined, if I can't deal with this myself (seen as though I know myself better than anyone) then that's pretty sad, I thought. I reached out and spoke to a few friends about it and quickly discovered a lot of them dealt with and/or are dealing with anxiety themselves. After this realisation, I decided I'd help myself. I knew there was a reason I was feeling this way and it couldn't exactly be cured (as such) just like that so I wanted to help myself, this is when I looked up ways of meditation so I could control my breathing and calm myself down whenever I felt anxious. I went out and bought 'The little book of mindfulness' by Tiddy Rowan with the purpose to calm the mind and lighten the spirit. It helped a lot and at just £5 was such a bargain, it has quotes in there from so many influential people such as Dalai Lama, Lin Yutang and Jon Kabat-zinn. It teaches you breathing methods to relax, ways to focus your thoughts and how to listen to your inner thoughts as well as some awesome meditation techniques and so much more so I'd definitely recommend it to anyone suffering with anxiety or the increase of stress levels!
I also have a genuine aquamarine crystal which is thought to relieve fear and anxiety, I don't know if any or many of you believe in crystals but I do and since purchasing it, I've felt a difference when it's been on my person. Anyway, other ways to dealing with anxiety. Please remember that everything is temporary, "this too shall pass". One of the most important things to learn is that it will go away eventually, when you start to feel anxious I think it's important to listen to your breathing, I know it sounds silly but just feeling your breathing pattern instantly calms you. Think of the good things going on around you, it's not always that easy but it helps me to think about what is coming and looking ahead. I think it's also important to remember that I feel everyone has had or is dealing with anxiety at some point of their lives, whether it be through family stress, friendship dilemmas, relationship troubles, stress before a job interview or an exam.. The list goes on! I think everyone has had that feeling of anxiety before but some people just get it worse than others.
I don't find that too much caffeinated drinks help so I try to cut them out as much as possible, (I mainly just drink Green or Raspberry tea but that's just what helps me). Going to the toilet before any anxiety-inducing event helps too, even if you're not actually going to the loo.. Just because you can give yourself a little bit of space, calm your breathing down and give yourself a bit of a pep talk. Focusing yourself helps me too, this could be anything from listening to music or buying a magazine or even just going on your phone. Talking to people is so essential for me when I start to feel anxious, it's also nice telling people when you're feeling anxious so they can try take your mind off of it. My friends have been so rad at that, I have a fear of public transport but trains in particular and recently I got on one myself to meet Chin and Connor and I was absolutely crapping myself but once I spoke to my friends about it they were instantly calming me down and the journey went super quickly and I was listening to Spice Girls loudly on a carriage by myself, it was fab. So remember it doesn't always have to be as bad as you think it might be.
What I also suggest (even though it is awful) is to sit through it because it honestly doesn't last forever and if you learn that then you can get through it and it doesn't seem as bad. I hope this helps some of you and I'd like to point out now that everyone is different, I understand completely that some things which help me may not help some of you but I just wanted to share what I find works for me! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holidays. Also, I recently made a YouTube channel and would love you forever if you could check it out, my first video is "A little introduction | Chloe Garnham", I'm hoping to do more whilst at Uni but everyone has to start somewhere :-)
Spreading eternal love and light.
Chloé X
This post is quite a personal one for me as it's something I've been tackling with for a short while now. I developed pretty bad anxiety just after I came out of my last relationship, in no way am I looking for attention or sympathy here as I really don't need it, I'm absolutely fine, but it was something that shocked me as I'd never had anything like it before. I guess the reason behind this post is to raise awareness as since I developed my anxiety I quickly realised it's actually very common and overlooked. Apparently because it's common that means that it's not as important, which is not the case. It first started for me when I would find that I felt ill a lot of the time, I felt run down and had a serious lack of motivation and willpower (okay, those who know me will know I was never exactly a motivated person anyway but let's just say I was even more unmotivated, which is saying something). I had no energy to do anything and the thought of doing something (especially in a large group) made me feel anxious and as though I was almost on the edge of my seat a lot of the time, this also happened when I thought about having a sit down meal or doing anything that required staying in one place for a period of time, like staying round a friends, going to the cinema etc. The annoying thing was that as soon as I was in my own space (mostly my bed), I suddenly felt absolutely fine and it was then that I realised I wasn't actually ill because I always felt better when I no longer had this "pressure" of doing something. It just wasn't like me so I quickly noticed the difference. I'd find myself having trouble with my breathing and mundane tasks became a challenge.
Anyway, after discussing all of this with my Doctor over the phone, he told me straight away that he would agree with me in thinking it was pinned down to Anxiety. Once I found this out, nothing exactly changed but it felt better knowing there was a reason behind feeling the way I did and knowing it wasn't all just in my head. My Doctor offered me some counselling sessions but as I go back to Uni soon, I politely declined, if I can't deal with this myself (seen as though I know myself better than anyone) then that's pretty sad, I thought. I reached out and spoke to a few friends about it and quickly discovered a lot of them dealt with and/or are dealing with anxiety themselves. After this realisation, I decided I'd help myself. I knew there was a reason I was feeling this way and it couldn't exactly be cured (as such) just like that so I wanted to help myself, this is when I looked up ways of meditation so I could control my breathing and calm myself down whenever I felt anxious. I went out and bought 'The little book of mindfulness' by Tiddy Rowan with the purpose to calm the mind and lighten the spirit. It helped a lot and at just £5 was such a bargain, it has quotes in there from so many influential people such as Dalai Lama, Lin Yutang and Jon Kabat-zinn. It teaches you breathing methods to relax, ways to focus your thoughts and how to listen to your inner thoughts as well as some awesome meditation techniques and so much more so I'd definitely recommend it to anyone suffering with anxiety or the increase of stress levels!
I also have a genuine aquamarine crystal which is thought to relieve fear and anxiety, I don't know if any or many of you believe in crystals but I do and since purchasing it, I've felt a difference when it's been on my person. Anyway, other ways to dealing with anxiety. Please remember that everything is temporary, "this too shall pass". One of the most important things to learn is that it will go away eventually, when you start to feel anxious I think it's important to listen to your breathing, I know it sounds silly but just feeling your breathing pattern instantly calms you. Think of the good things going on around you, it's not always that easy but it helps me to think about what is coming and looking ahead. I think it's also important to remember that I feel everyone has had or is dealing with anxiety at some point of their lives, whether it be through family stress, friendship dilemmas, relationship troubles, stress before a job interview or an exam.. The list goes on! I think everyone has had that feeling of anxiety before but some people just get it worse than others.
I don't find that too much caffeinated drinks help so I try to cut them out as much as possible, (I mainly just drink Green or Raspberry tea but that's just what helps me). Going to the toilet before any anxiety-inducing event helps too, even if you're not actually going to the loo.. Just because you can give yourself a little bit of space, calm your breathing down and give yourself a bit of a pep talk. Focusing yourself helps me too, this could be anything from listening to music or buying a magazine or even just going on your phone. Talking to people is so essential for me when I start to feel anxious, it's also nice telling people when you're feeling anxious so they can try take your mind off of it. My friends have been so rad at that, I have a fear of public transport but trains in particular and recently I got on one myself to meet Chin and Connor and I was absolutely crapping myself but once I spoke to my friends about it they were instantly calming me down and the journey went super quickly and I was listening to Spice Girls loudly on a carriage by myself, it was fab. So remember it doesn't always have to be as bad as you think it might be.
What I also suggest (even though it is awful) is to sit through it because it honestly doesn't last forever and if you learn that then you can get through it and it doesn't seem as bad. I hope this helps some of you and I'd like to point out now that everyone is different, I understand completely that some things which help me may not help some of you but I just wanted to share what I find works for me! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your holidays. Also, I recently made a YouTube channel and would love you forever if you could check it out, my first video is "A little introduction | Chloe Garnham", I'm hoping to do more whilst at Uni but everyone has to start somewhere :-)
Spreading eternal love and light.
Chloé X
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