The first steps I took to healing from my anxiety
For one, some of the things was experiencing on a daily basis started to make a lot of sense, like why I was always so jumpy and so tired. But, on the other hand, I was scared that this meant that I’d never live a ‘normal’ life.
And I think it was this fear that sparked something inside of me. I made a decision not to let my anxiety hold me back in life anymore and honestly I think that was the single best decision I've ever made in my life.
Making that decision drove me to learn as much as I could about anxiety and how to break free of it.
So, I want to share what I did to start my journey of healing and I hope that this inspires you to take your own first steps.
You can follow the steps I took or figure out some of your own. Whatever works for you, as long as you’re moving forward.
# 1 educate myself.
The very first thing I did was educate myself.
I picked up as many books as I could find on anxiety and started learning everything I could.
Doing this gave me an understanding of why I was experiencing life the way I was.
So, things like being jumpy all the time came from being on edge all the time because my body was constantly producing stress hormones. Understanding fundamentals like that helped me realise that this is something that I can ‘fix’ in myself.
# 2 figure things out
I took the time to figure out what my own personal anxiety triggers were.
Anxiety triggers can be different for each if us. They are things that set off your anxiety and trigger your body to release stress hormones.
The thing is, these triggers can be really small and seem insignificant at first, so you may not easily notice them.
To figure out what your triggers are I suggest you keep a journal and write down things that stress you out for seemingly ‘no reason’.
After a few months of tracking these stressors take a look at what you’ve written down and see if there’s a pattern.
These are your triggers.
When you know what your triggers are, you can either avoid them or work on desensitising yourself to them.
# 3 self care
Learning what self-care meant to me was another huge step forward.
I feel like when it comes to anxiety and mental health self-care takes on a whole new level.
I like to think of self-care as things that help me calm my anxiety, but also help me break free of it.
So, things like taking time to just let my mind go blank and giving it a rest from the constant thoughts and fears that pop up helps me detox from my anxiety for a bit.
Another thing I do is find areas of my life where I feel like I’m holding myself back unnecessarily because of my anxiety. Then I make a conscious effort to push myself past that block.
Figuring out where your personal walls are and gently pushing yourself past it is one of the most incredible acts of self-care and self love that you can do for yourself right now.
And as a bonus it’s also incredibly therapeutic and empowering.
# 4 my anxiety
The fourth thing I did was take some time to figure out how my own anxiety manifested.
Learning how my anxiety manifested gave me a clear starting point when it came to finding the right strategies to help me manage my anxiety.
I started by addressing these ‘issues’ and the way I thought about and approached the world.
So, these are just a few of the things I did to begin my journey managing my anxiety. I’ll be going deeper into these and other steps I took in the next few articles.
If you liked this article then you might find my ebook "Self-care for your Mental Health" helpful too. In it you'll learn how to develop the kind of strategies and routines that help you achieve balance in your life
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