I Have Anxiety

This will be a positive post with some tips and thoughts on just general anxiety.

I'm really writing this for my self as I have been trying to learn a bit more about myself and my anxiety. And I figured this could be a way for me to get out my thoughts and also revisit this whenever I need it. But I think also sharing this publicly, even though it's pretty long, may help others in this group who also struggle with anxiety.

I think noticing that anxiety is a normal response to this modern world is comforting. Our minds our often are overtaxed by all the things and responsibilites that modern world demands of us, by technology, by traffic and all this stimuli - You have to constantly be in a super alert state and this builds stress and constantly worrying thoughts in the mind

So just giving this recognition alone; it can be helpful because it says that 1) everyone around you is feeling this, so you aren't alone and 2) it gives you chance to recognize when the anxiety is occurring/ apply understanding as to why.

And additionally it tells us that anxiety is not a negative thing and again its just recognition that its not something that isnt meant to be there, can help to silence any anxiety you may be feeling. it's there to keep us alert from oncoming dangers. The only problem is that we have too much to worry about in the modern day, even how much we worry is making us worry.

And what happens is our minds wants to think our way out of the everything and becomes overwhelmed.

I've learnt that it's better not to rely on your head when experiencing anxiety because you'll just dig yourself deeper into it but instead your senses. "Coming to your senses" in a way, because your senses aren't actually in the part of the amygdala, the emotional and the panicky part of the brain so if you can focus on one of these instead of your thoughts that can help tremendously

For example: it could be something like, smelling some flowers, looking at some art, listening to music, feeling something soft, walking, just using your senses to be more in the moment instead of in your head.

"Noticing that you're alive is a taste the world needs to learn to re-aquire"

Especially in a world that is always on the move, without a little time to relax, reflect, take time for self care. And appreciate things around you and ultimately life. And that's really what focusing on using your senses does. It helps you to stay in the moment and appreciate the very little and simple things that give us joy and can calm us. And it's very easy to do; simply stopping to look around or just breathing, having tea, what have you, they are really easily accessible things and you'll find there's so much of it

Also focusing on the body. Our bodies hold and store stress in places. Focusing on moving parts of the body, light exercise or breathing into it can help because you are focusing on your senses and relieving the tensions you hold. Especially if you have a desk job like me where you don't get much movement that can cause more stress to build. Often our bodies can help relieve our mind in this way. But also taking care of your mind helps us to be healthy in our bodies.

That's everyday anxiety you may feel but what about anxiety from negative emotions?

I notice when I have very high levels of anxiety that's when I fall back into depression

So I've kinda learnt that your beliefs are often the perpetrator here. When we think a negative thought about ourselves or the world, we immediately make the judgement that it's bad to feel this way and we aren't meant to feel these things... or something is wrong or something wrong with us. More specifically but that's really not the case. We are all okay as we are 👍

and we believe that whatever negative thoughts we have our true and we don't take a step back to question it.

It's only when we think it's true... say I say "I'm a failure by of X Y Z..." then we start to feel bad from believing that but if we were to examine the reason we feel bad about it, it's you actually deep down you are telling yourself that what you're thinking is not true or in alignment with you or who you are or you wouldn't feel bad about it. It's because you're hurting yourself by creating a false narrative. So negative emotions can be positive and we don't actually have to look at them as things which are bad or avoid but...

If we were to catch ourselves when thinking negative and anxious thoughts and give it some recognition... understand why it's there and then question the negative belief or judgement you have about yourself... and make a habit of it then this won't cause so much anxiety and help to also increase your self love. You can replace it with a more positive and reassuring thought

So I think anxiety is a normal response to being aware, it's a side effect of too much thought, and living in a world that is sometimes very cold and confusing life is scary and if you're somebody whose a deep thinker and really gets into existential thoughts, like the nature of existence and why are we here and all sorts of things then really it's understandable why us humans are so anxiety ridden. Also recognizing that life is short and we don't have the answer to everything- but we can have gratitude for being alive and for the things we have

But I'm gonna end on something my friend said to me a few years ago

"You are brave and not as fearful as you believe yourself to be because you have anxiety yet you face it head on everyday"

I really think what helps is understanding why it's there and that takes away the weight that it has because you begin to understand that it is a normal response to things and it doesn't need more thought than that and it shouldn't stop you

Remember to take time for self care it can be easy to forget
and even though it's difficult practicing self love really helps especially if your anxiety is coming from negative beliefs


Hope this is helpful to someone

If you have any tips or thoughts please feel free to share