It gets better when you no longer ask: "When does it get better?"
It gets better when you have accepted your anxiety symptoms for the time being. Truly accepted. Accepted to the point where it no longer matters to you if you feel anxiety today or not.
When you achieve that stage in your recovery you stop adding second fear to first fear when symptoms strike. So you stop flooding your nerves with adrenaline: the hormone which in constant excess keeps your nervous system over sensitised.
Over sensitised nerves play havoc with our peace of mind through all the symptoms that we know so well. Our high anxiety means we view every slight problem or worry as a major disaster.
An upset stomach convinces us we have stomach cancer. Changes at work make us feel we're going to lose our job. The normal concern not to die before our time becomes exaggerated into a feeling of imminent doom. Always the worst case scenario!
And of course we soon become depressed about our anxieties and the bad feelings we must feel each day.
Through understanding we can see things as they really are - and begin to recover our quiet mind. But if our anxiety disorder is due to problem overload we need to deal with those problems ruthlessly if need be. Either neutralise those issues or learn to look at them from a less negative point of view.
Often the original cause(s) of our breakdown are long gone but the anxiety continues in a self-perpetuating circle of symptoms-fear-nervous sensitisation-symptoms-fear-nervous sensitisation etc.
Recovery from anxiety disorder involves four stages.
1. FACE your anxiety and its triggers, pass through it, rather than seeking to side step it or seek oblivion in distraction.
2. ACCEPT all your symptoms of anxiety for the moment without fighting them: fighting means more tension whilst accepting brings calm and halts the flow of fear hormones. Your sensitised nerves are waiting to recover, acceptance provides the means for this to happen.
3. FLOAT - continue with your normal daily activities and if this feels difficult imagine that some unseen force is propelling you forward. Jelly legs will not fail you, they will get you there and back.
4. LET TIME PASS - true recovery takes time, you have to agree to live with anxiety for the moment. This is no magic wand cure, you spent months, even years, getting into this state so be prepared to spend more time to recover if need be.
Anxiety is a confidence trick. It cannot kill you, disable you or send you crazy. Why then fear it? Anxiety's bark is much worst than its bite. Even panic attacks pass, they pass even quicker if by accepting them for the moment you stop fuelling them with fear.
With practice and persistence over-sensitised nerves become calm and we recover our quiet mind.
"Learn to live with anxiety and you'll be able to live without it."
