Learning how to live with your anxiety
Anxiety disorders affect more than 3.6% of the world’s population and even though anxiety disorders are a very real illness, few people ever seek help for it. Why? Because they are scared of being judged, misunderstood or even not believed by the very people who should be helping them.
The problem is that the symptoms of anxiety disorders are not as visible as those of other illnesses, like diabetes or heart diseases. So, people who haven't gone through it can't understand or relate to people going through anxiety.
But, just like these illnesses, anxiety disorders are very real.
Anxiety disorders manifest in different ways, making it even more difficult to pinpoint and treat. Some people may experience anxiety as OCD, PTSD, social anxiety or agoraphobia (etc), so it can be difficult to tell that you even have an anxiety disorder unless you observe your symptoms or get professional help.
So, it makes sense that you need to understand how your anxiety disorder manifests before you can start healing and recovering from it.
Healing from Social Anxiety
It’s common for people who battle with an anxiety disorder to battle with social anxiety too.
When you live with anxiety you can tend to overthink every action and feel afraid and paranoid practically all the time. It’s like walking around on high alert all the time. The result is that the world can become so overwhelming.
The only place you feel safe is in your comfort zone, so, you stay there and create a protective bubble for yourself.
This feels like the right thing to do at the time but if you find yourself pulling away from people who you usually talked to, like family and friends, and you find that your bubble starts shrinking and you feel like you have no control over it, then this has become an unhealthy situation for you.
Letting your social anxiety run rampant can have massive impacts on your career, relationships with family and friends and even your self-development, self-esteem and mental health.
The smaller that bubble gets the harder it gets for you to step out of it.
The only way to really overcome social anxiety and the loneliness and depression that comes with it, is to take baby steps in the right direction and challenge yourself daily. It's about slowly expanding that personal bubble so that it doesn't shrink so small that it smothers you.
Once you start expanding that bubble you can learn to enjoy the world again, and not be afraid of it.
Finding your happiness
Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand. When anxiety takes over it can become very difficult to even imagine having a happy, fulfilling life. This often leads to depression which circles back to anxiety.
But your anxiety doesn't have to rule or ruin your life.
So how do you find happiness even when you have anxiety?
It starts when you set a vision for your future and focus all your efforts on that every day.
This can be in the form of goals or a purpose for your life or even an awesome hobby. It can be anything that brings you joy and a sense of purpose.
Once you know where you want to go and what to do with your life, you can start each morning with those goals, visions or dreams in mind and work towards it one step at a time (and yes, even tiny steps count).
The key here lies in giving your anxious mind something positive to work on. As you move closer to your goals your self-confidence and self-esteem will start to improve too. And as those improve your anxiety and depression will start becoming more manageable.
The bonus is that you will get some awesome experiences and create a fulfilling life along the way.
Anxiety and self-care
If you want to learn how to manage your anxiety also need to learn how to be kind to yourself.
No matter how big or small your support system is, you are your biggest support. It's the work and compassion you put into yourself that will determine how fast and how well you heal.
It starts with self-compassion - learning how to be kind to yourself and love yourself.
From there you’ll be able to learn and understand your anxiety triggers - what causes your panic attacks - from a place of kindness and compassion towards yourself, so that you can take steps to avoid a panic attack altogether.
Anxiety triggers can be anything from a sound to a situation you may find yourself in. it’s important to understand that you will never be able to eliminate these situations from your life or avoid them forever (because you can't control the outside world). But you can change how you react to your triggers.
When you develop the right coping strategies that help you manage your anxiety, you are actually practicing self-care and self-love.
You are giving yourself a way to manage the worst parts of anxiety, and empowering yourself.
Forgiveness is another powerful tool in learning how to manage your anxiety. But, it’s not forgiveness of others that you need to master, it’s forgiveness of yourself.
Whenever your mind starts ‘bullying’ you about past mistakes, bringing them up over and over again, making you experience the guilt, or shame, or hurt that went with that memory you are simply torturing yourself for a lesson you’ve already learned.
By learning how to replace these thoughts with thoughts of self-compassion and forgiveness for those mistakes, you begin to heal and actively stop the overthinking torture.
If you’re ready to learn how to nourish your mind and body, boost your self-esteem and take control of your mental health too using self-care strategies that actually work then my “Thriving From Within” ebook bundle is for you.
Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to boost your self-care routine, this bundle is your roadmap to a healthier, happier you.
Packed with easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides and invaluable printables, this ebook bundle will help you Revamp Your Mindset and boost your self-care routine.
Learn more ⇩⇩⇩
The right habits
Habits are another powerful tool when it comes to redesigning your life and learning to live with anxiety.
Our habits determine the type of life we live, our health, whether we fulfil our goals and even how we interact with other people. So, it makes sense to use the power of habits to your advantage when it comes to managing your anxiety.
I like to think of habits as a kind of secret weapon when it comes to learning how to manage your anxiety. When you establish the right type of habits they can kick in and take over when you need them to, and help you manage your anxiety before a panic attack even sets in.
While it may feel like your anxiety disorder runs or even ruins your life, there are real concrete strategies you can use to learn to manage your anxiety and take back your life.
It all begins with understanding your triggers and symptoms, redirecting your thoughts towards positive growth, caring for yourself and establishing the right habits to make these coping strategies a part of your daily life without much thought.
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