I have experienced anxiety for most of my life. My emotions cycle through periods of feeling really anxious for days or weeks at a time and then feeling confident and healthy.
I have joined this website because I would like to help others who are struggling with anxiety - and through helping others, I hope to help myself as well.
Do you know what brings it on? I know what mine is from, and I cycle as well. I try to deep breathe and call someone familiar if I am alone.
Sometimes the reasons I feel anxious are obvious- stress from daily life. Other times, I have no idea. I know when I have a stressful experience, I often feel anxious a few days later, for a duration of several days. Back during the college days, I might feel stressed out during exam week, but the real anxiety came the week after.
So I try to live a healthy life and avoid those things that are bad for me. I try to eat healthy, exercise several times a week, sleep enough, etc.
My dog is a Border Collie. She is beautiful and loyal- and also high energy and nervous. One time when walking her, she stepped on a stick that flipped up and poked her in the behind. Startled, she scurried about nervously. She hides from the vacuum cleaner. She runs away when she hears a large dog barking. She is a nervous dog.
Certain situations cause me anxiety, such as being far from home or taking public transportation. I know that. But, I don't know why I have nervous times and calm times when all factors seem equal. On some level I guess I am like the Border Collie; it is just my nature.
hi
You had mentioned in your post that you deal with anxiety a lot through yout life. Can you help me and tell me how you worked through the bad days. I suffer from anxiety and changes in myself to the point where I'M having trouble with going out of the house
At my worst, I would only travel a mile or two from my home. I would avoid most public places for fear of being locked inside. Thruways and public transportation were impossible. At that time, I suffered from panic attacks.
For me- I entered into cognitive behavioral therapy. In short, I found a therapist who helped me challenge my fears. With this therapist we didn't gradually experience things I was afraid of. Rather, we did things that would cause me to have panic. At first it was simple things- visualizing fearful situations and then hyperventilating on purpose and standing up quickly. Once I became a pro at that, we would drive out about 3 miles to this large bridge and take it over and back. With all that therapy I noticed a few things: (1) The panic attacks always ended. (2) In many cases the anticipatory anxiety was worse than the actual experience. (3) I didn't go crazy nor was I hurt in any way.
So- I started to realize, as unpleasant facing my fears was, deep inside I started to gain confidence that I could survive them. This was a huge realization for me. Yes I still had daily anxiety. Yes I still had a big sack of fears. BUT, things no longer seemed black-and-white. Before there was no way I could do those things I feared. Now- I know I can survive.
We like to stay near home because being at home makes us feel safe and calm. If we are nervous and being out someplace makes us feel not safe and returning home makes us feel more safe, we start to feed into that phobia. When you can feel safe because of your own confidence in yourself, then you are on the road to recovery (in my humble opinion). I like books from Claire Weekes and Reid Wilson (and others) who talk about facing our fears and allowing the fear and anxiety to come. True acceptance is the keystone to recovery ("Hope and Help for Your Nerves, Weekes, P. 28.). Dr. Wilson talks about the "Eight Attitudes of Recovery" ("Don't Panic, P.72) which are: I am not ashamed, learn from panic, I want to face the symptoms, it is ok to be anxious, I wont guard against anxiety, this is practice not a test, I can tolerate uncertainty, and It's ok if this doesn't work.
I agree with these authors. It is all about facing and accepting rather than running away mentally or physically.
When I travel far distances now, I sometimes worry I wont be able to return home quickly- rather than tell myself "no problem getting home" I instead tell myself "if I get suck, it would be terrible, but I will survive".
That is my philosophy. I hope you can take away something from it.
If I am just having an anxious day, I try to be compassionate with myself. I keep busy with things I enjoy doing. Take a moment to analyze what might be a cause of stress and try to realize it isn't so bad - or if it is really bad, try to accept it as part of life. When I am nervous at work, I am so involved with my tasks and responsibilities that I don't notice the anxiety as much.
Deep breathing and consciously relaxing the muscles can help- however, I would suggest not looking towards deep breathing or meditation or anything as a way to avoid anxiety. Rather, I believe you should accept the way you feel, realize it wont cause you physical harm, and don't dwell on wanting it to end.
If it gets really bad, another thing I might do is spend timed with a family member or friend.
That is such good advice, thank you.
New here/ first post- feeling lost 
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