Hi. I posted the following message 5 years ago. I think it might be useful to remind people suffering with anxiety and depression that recovery is possible by learning to accept how you are thinking and feeling instead of fighting a constant battle to think and feel different.
For me the best thing in ‘dealing’ with intrusive thoughts and all the physical symptoms was to let them all be there, let the thoughts ramble on and not making them a big issue. Not ideal as I would much rather have had control of my own thoughts but the truth of the matter was that I didn’t. They were just a by product of anxiety and gradually disappeared when I lost my respect for them.
I was also tired of having to have ‘things to do’ in order to address the various issues I had. Almost feverishly keeping myself busy to stop myself feeling the symptoms of anxiety such as intrusive/ racing thoughts (about anything and everything) and depletion (depression).
I was done with having to ‘make space’ for them. I was just going to let them do what they wanted to do, for as long as they wanted to do it while I got on with my life.
If your mind races, let it race. If your mind is already agitated with anxiety and your thoughts naturally turn to despair, fear, hopelessnes etc, it does little good to force yourself to think positive thoughts. As if forcing “positive thoughts” will help because it just adds to the agitation. You’re just adding more mental exertion to a mind that is exhausted. So let your thoughts run on and on or spin however they want to spin. When a particular thought was bothering me a lot, I just learned to let it do what it wanted to do while telling myself something like “So what? It will go when it’s ready to go.” Looking at it another way, it is showing little interest In the thoughts while your mind is racing. Like having the TV on in the background and not paying too much attention to the programme/show. But be patient with yourself when you find yourself playing along with the fear. It takes practice to perfect “masterly inactivity” and not doing anything about the thoughts and feelings and letting them be there for as long as they want. Acceptance is the means to an end. Acceptance gives your mind and body the space it needs to let the natural physiological healing process to work and for normal thoughts and feelings to return.
Recovery happens by living your life with anxiety and adopting an attitude of “OK, so my life is a bit uncomfortable having this disorder right now, but that’s fine and can stay as long as it likes”.
Set no guidelines and timetables as to when the anxiety storm needs to pass. It will and you will look probably back and be glad you went through it (I kid you not!). Make your goal as simple as living a life with anxiety and it will gradually disappear.
Practicing acceptance while in action
Acceptance
