Distraction can distract you from recovery.

[Jeff1943]

When the distraction is over the anxiety is still there. Waiting to inflict its pain and misery once more.

Distraction brings temporary respite from anxiety and sometimes the break can stop the bad feelings. But only for a few hours, the best part of a day at most.

The problem with distraction is that it distracts you from your most urgent task: learning to recover.

We do not recover by hiding from symptoms, we should face them and pass through them. Even learn to live with the symptoms for a limited period of time, not fighting them or trying to push them away.

Fighting anxiety only causes more strain, more tension: I suggest this is not helpful to minds desperate for peace.

To regain our quiet mind we must agree to co-exist with our anxiety, we must accept it for the time being as an unwelcome guest. Do not keep checking every 5 minutes to see if it is still there, instead learn to accept it for the moment. Truly accept, that is. Let it stay for as long or as short as it wishes, stop watching the clock.

Learning Acceptance is time well spent for eventually we will lose our fear of anxiety. When we no longer respond to the flash of first fear with second fear, when we stop letting fear frighten us to death every five minutes, we have begun the ritual of true recovery.

Fear is our mortal enemy, if we can lose our fear of anxiety and all its manifestations then our nervous system will return to normal mode and all calm returns.

Nobody can both accept something and fear it at the same time. We know in our heart that those things that scare us are false threats: fabrications of our imaginations created by nervous exhaustion. We have only to convince our minds what our hearts have felt all along: no matter how real they feel the symptoms of anxiety are fake and fraudulent.

So seek diversion by all means. But to overcome we have to Face our anxiety and Accept its symptoms and then Float past them and Let time pass.

[KittenMittens22]

Thank you for this reminder. I completely resonate with it. I am currently working on facing the fears and not letting them control me. Not an easy thing to do, but have realized it is necessary to overcome the anxiety. I have been trying to avoid it for so long.

[Jeff1943 in reply to KittenMittens22]

I wish you every success in your plan to overcome your anxiety. Anxiety is caused by exaggerated fears, worries that have become magnified by our over sensitised nervous system. If we stop fighting anxiety and accept it for the moment we can lose our fears - and lose the nervous sensitisation that is causing our anxiety disorder (and the depression that is caused by us becoming depressed about having anxiety).

[Booklover0219]

Excellent. Thank you.

[OR4377]

Lovely morning mediation for today. Thank you🌻

[gemfire]

My life in a nutshell Jeff! I spent many years using diversions of all kinds and it's only been the last 3 years or so that I've actually tried accepting anxiety/panic for what it truly is. I still use diversion tactics because of all the years I've relied on them to get me through rough patches. It's really an addiction if you think about it. Very hard to overcome but worth it! The sooner the better since diversion habits become natural and are so hard to break. Now I'm working on acceptance being the habit instead of diversion. Great advice Jeff as usual. Thank you <3