Good morning?

[Willow2022]

First time posting. Depression and anxiety are something I scoffed at until I realized I suffered from both. Every day is a struggle. Even more so by current happenings in life beyond my control. My body/mind feel as though they are in a constant state of fight or flight, even with clonazepam on board. How do people find peace? How when this world feels so oppressive?

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome among friends! We understand and hear you. It is such a struggle to stay afloat. I'm in near constant fight-or-flight mode as well these days. It really exhausts me and gets me depressed. I sing and paint to help myself. I also disassociate, so I use tapping to keep me in the present. I have some things up on my fridge to remind me that I'm safe. I keep telling myself that I'm reacting to a memory, that my body is reacting to a memory.It's really hard to have things be out of our control. We as humans like to think we're in control, so when we get reminders that we are not, it makes us feel unsafe and vulnerable.

Another thing that helps me is to remember the little girl in me who is hurting. I need to take care and protect her as best I can.

[Dolphin14]

Welcome to our group.

I spent many years in fight or flight mode. Beyond anyone's comprehension how I was so high functioning. I meditate, exercise, go to therapy, educate through reading. I try to focus on living in the moment as opposed to letting my mind push me into fear mode.

Do your best. Work on finding anything that can settle your mind even if for a small amount of time.

When you are in full broken panic have you tried focused breathing and telling yourself this will stop, I can get through this?

🐬

[Willow2022 in reply to Dolphin14]

I have several methods for panic attacks such as: find 5 blue things currently around you or find 1 thing you smell, 2 you hear, 3 you can feel and 4 you can see. It definitely helps bring me into focus. I think it’s all the other time when I can feel than panic bubbling and have to tamp it down that exhausts me. Just mentally and physically.

[Dolphin14 in reply to Willow2022]

I just recently learned about this technique. I can see how this is very helpful.

Our body does become drained when we have panic. It's a horrible feeling.

I hope in time these episodes lessen in frequency so you can have some peace.

🐬

[Agora1]

Hi Willow and Welcome to this amazing forum :)We have choices in life.. We can just stay in a frozen state of existence

or we can live. Whether the world around us feels oppressive or not, the

peace and calm must come from within us. It doesn't mean that everything

we worry about disappears, it just means we find a way to accept what we cannot

change.

Doing this can bring down that state of fight or flight that we find ourselves in.

If we look around more closely, we will find that our lives are full of good things to

be grateful for. There are Mindfulness Meditations that can take you into the moment

in order for you to find that escape in the present. The past and the future are out of our

control but why be miserable in the present, it's all we have. No one is guaranteed tomorrow and so we must live for today.

Finding the answer is not about popping a pill or having a great therapist if we don't

motivate ourselves in going forward. Medication and therapy are just like a crutch or a walking cane to help us hobble along until we can throw away those aids and stand on

our own emotionally. Deep within each of us is a strength that we can draw from.

Finding that will enable you to break that cycle of fear and move forward. xx

[Willow2022]

Thank you for your responses. It’s nice to not be alone with these thoughts.

[CL3V3R-G1RL]

I do the 5,4,3,2,1 steps and I like either on my bed or the floor. Usually the floor cause it's cooler. I get hot flashes. I just cry cause going to happen anyways. Sometimes I puke, it's usually just once. I go back to breathing and saying my affirmations "you're okay" "it'll be okay" " it'll all be over soon enough" and I have this medium stuff animal cat that I hug 🫂 and pet it's fur. Just breathe. Eventually I settle down enough to get off the floor and back into bed. Little shaking but a little better and I tell myself "sleep will be good for us now. It'll reset everything. When you wake up , all will be well."

That's if I'm alone.

Sometimes I have my fiancé for support and he just holds me and puts on a movie for distraction. (My fiancé works nights so he can't always be there when it happens)

Sometimes its my mom. She'll tell me it's going to be ok. Just got over stimulated but it'll go away. So she'll tell me to sit next to her and watch Perry Mason on Metv 😂

[Willow2022 in reply to CL3V3R-G1RL]

I am so glad you have people to support you during those times. We often feel the need to hid any of our emotions because of a stigma or judgement and I wish that wasn’t true the world over.

[CL3V3R-G1RL in reply to Willow2022]

I used to but only cause I didn't want to bother them. My mom is elderly and she has her own medical issues. My fiance is working so hard. I don't like going through it. But it's also deeply hard to suffer quietly.