Introduction

[CarlJames]

Hi Everyone,

I suffered from social anxiety, generalised anxiety, and panic attacks for most of my adult life. I thought I would never recover and was resigned to being that way forever. About 5 years ago I recovered and now live a normal life, with normal amounts of stress, tension and anxiety.

I'm SO grateful for this, and thought I would join here and see if I can help people with what I learned during my recovery. I no longer believe anxiety has to be a life sentence, and I think every single one of us can recover.

[Hidden]

I’m happy to hear you’ve had success. I’m in the middle of a terrible time, having recently come off of meds and now experiencing panic attacks in the middle of the night. I also have a lot of nausea. I’m interested in knowing what you did to recover.

[CarlJames in reply to Hidden]

I started doing the opposite of what I had done for years and years without it working. Instead of fighting to overcome the anxiety, I started to allow it, to let it all happen. It was scary at first, but I kept at it and it paid off.

[Hidden]

Welcome to the site

It is nice to hear positive stories as well. We all are here to learn and to help and get support. Recovering is a good thing to here. So, what have you been doing to get well?

[CarlJames in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for the welcome.

It probably all sounds a bit cliche but I worked on developing acceptance. Not fighting the anxiety and self acceptance. I realised anxiety is like a tug of war, and when you drop the rope it fades away. I also began to be kind to myself instead of beating myself up all the time. That helped a lot too.

[Hidden in reply to CarlJames]

Yesterday I received an email from depression and enxiety site something something I don't remember but what they were saying is that one of the ways to deal with it is actually accepting the emotion that comes with it at that moment and not fight. Hearing you say it helped you makes me think that they must be right. When I hear result that something is working, I get excited. I also think being kind to oneself also helps. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to having you here on the site. Welcome again

[CarlJames in reply to Hidden]

Thanks. I really believe that is the way to recover. It's the only thing that ever worked for me, and I tried so many different things over the years.

[Matt_S in reply to Hidden]

I read that also and it did make some sense to me

[Hb2003]

Hello and welcome to this wonderful site i hope that your doing well 😊.people here are very supportive and understanding 😄 - Hiba

[CarlJames in reply to Hb2003]

Thanks, Hiba.

[Hb2003 in reply to CarlJames]

Your welcome 😄

[Matt_S in reply to Hb2003]

Thank you and yes very supportive here

[Hb2003 in reply to Matt_S]

Your welcome 😄

[Matt_S]

That’s what I’m diagnosed with generalized anxiety and depression I hope temporarily separated from my wife and it hurts a lot

[CarlJames in reply to Matt_S]

Sorry to hear that, Matt. No doubt a really difficult time for you. Trust that you can and will come through this.

[Matt_S in reply to CarlJames]

Thank you Carl for the pick me up I appreciate your reassurance of the light at the end of the tunnel, much appreciated

[Agora1]

Hello CarlJames Thank you for your positive post. Always a delight to hear.

You just gave me the biggest smile for the day. I'm glad to welcome you to our

virtual family of friends. Hope we will be talking soon. xx

[CarlJames in reply to Agora1]

Thanks Agora1. Glad I could bring a smile. Look forward to talking with you and all the other posters here.

😊