timetochange
09-10-2013, 05:58 AM
Hey all :)
I just wanted to post something in here that may be of help to any anxiety/depression/panic attack sufferers out there. From my experience, this website is great for bringing together people who are going through similar issues in their lives and that makes it a great place to stop you feeling alone. However, as someone who is putting 5 years of anxiety and depression behind her now..I thought maybe by sharing some of my solutions, it may help others. And I'm also in debt to this site since it did help me through some really tough times..
Firstly, I think the biggest turning point came for me when I came to realise that it's only you that can make a change for yourself. I spent years constantly searching for something or someone to drag me out of my 'dark hole', but the reality is...no one was ever going to come and save me apart from myself. On realising that I think you can really take yourself from being a victim of suffering to feeling more empowered and willing to open yourself up to looking at any anxiety/depression related issues in a new light.
Secondly, another new viewpoint which helped me a lot was trying as much as possible to focus on what is going on right now. On reflection, I've come to realise that a lot of my problems were caused by focussing too much on what had happened to me in the past or worrying about what was going to happen in the future. Okay, obviously you have to think practically and you can't spend your time staring at your navel...in this life, you do have to have some kind of outline plan to ensure you can support yourself/pay for food/rent etc but for me accepting that everything that had happened in the past, had happened and there was nothing I could do to change it, and also that anything that I was worrying about in the future, hadn't happened yet and almost always was never as bad as I thought it would be.. Really freed up my mind from anxious thoughts and helped me appreciate what was going on right now, whether that was enjoying a good book, watching tv or having coffee with friends.
What also helped me stop placing too much focus on the past and future was also trying out some mindfulness meditation. Trust me, I've never been one for sitting down and meditating with candles and incense sticks, but this meditation isn't like that. It's far more practical and appropriate to the real world and theres been loads of scientific studies into how it changes the levels of cortisol in your pre frontal cortex (high levels of which are what lead to those feelings of stress). You really learn to accept everything you are going through, whether it is physical pain, stress or a complete emotional imbalance, and in doing so...those thoughts, feelings and emotions tend not to seem as scary as they first seemed. You can find a link for the online meditation programme I followed, which teaches you the first part of the meditation in 10 days for 10 minutes every day for free, on google.... Just search for headspace...otherwise I'm sure there are more programmes available out there which can be found either online or arranged through your GP/family doctor.
The last thing I wanted to say is although I imagine what you are going through right now currently feels terrible, all encompassing and like there's no way out, the one thing I have realised after coming out of my anxious/depressed state is what a learning curb it was for me. I'm 25 and over these past 5 years I have learnt SO much about myself that its really helped me grow as a person. Now I'm not as focused on my anxiety and have more time to spend focusing on others everybody around me has commented on how emotionally aware I am and how easy it is to be around me. I've literally had people ask me what my secret is!! I really think that comes down to the anxiety/depression I went through and how now, having seen rock bottom, I really we'll and truly know myself. Aswell as that, having gone through so much pain I can really relate to others and understand that, on some level everybody is trying to free themselves from suffering.
Also, other anxiety or depression sufferers I have met in the past are so because they are highly intelligent, causing them to ask these anxiety/stress inducing questions about themselves and life in general over and over again. So if there's one thing you can take away from what you are going through, please at least see how much you must understand another aspect of yourself, which I'm sure will be of great advantage to you...and also that you are probably very intelligent!! :)
Sorry to go on, but I just hope that maybe this message will speak to somebody out there and that they can realise that every one deserves the right to be happy and anxious-free. Although we are all going to encounter bumps along the way (and in life there will always be bumps!) there is also so much happiness there and so much to live for. Sometimes we just need to take a step back in order to see that little bit more clearly.
All the best!!
I just wanted to post something in here that may be of help to any anxiety/depression/panic attack sufferers out there. From my experience, this website is great for bringing together people who are going through similar issues in their lives and that makes it a great place to stop you feeling alone. However, as someone who is putting 5 years of anxiety and depression behind her now..I thought maybe by sharing some of my solutions, it may help others. And I'm also in debt to this site since it did help me through some really tough times..
Firstly, I think the biggest turning point came for me when I came to realise that it's only you that can make a change for yourself. I spent years constantly searching for something or someone to drag me out of my 'dark hole', but the reality is...no one was ever going to come and save me apart from myself. On realising that I think you can really take yourself from being a victim of suffering to feeling more empowered and willing to open yourself up to looking at any anxiety/depression related issues in a new light.
Secondly, another new viewpoint which helped me a lot was trying as much as possible to focus on what is going on right now. On reflection, I've come to realise that a lot of my problems were caused by focussing too much on what had happened to me in the past or worrying about what was going to happen in the future. Okay, obviously you have to think practically and you can't spend your time staring at your navel...in this life, you do have to have some kind of outline plan to ensure you can support yourself/pay for food/rent etc but for me accepting that everything that had happened in the past, had happened and there was nothing I could do to change it, and also that anything that I was worrying about in the future, hadn't happened yet and almost always was never as bad as I thought it would be.. Really freed up my mind from anxious thoughts and helped me appreciate what was going on right now, whether that was enjoying a good book, watching tv or having coffee with friends.
What also helped me stop placing too much focus on the past and future was also trying out some mindfulness meditation. Trust me, I've never been one for sitting down and meditating with candles and incense sticks, but this meditation isn't like that. It's far more practical and appropriate to the real world and theres been loads of scientific studies into how it changes the levels of cortisol in your pre frontal cortex (high levels of which are what lead to those feelings of stress). You really learn to accept everything you are going through, whether it is physical pain, stress or a complete emotional imbalance, and in doing so...those thoughts, feelings and emotions tend not to seem as scary as they first seemed. You can find a link for the online meditation programme I followed, which teaches you the first part of the meditation in 10 days for 10 minutes every day for free, on google.... Just search for headspace...otherwise I'm sure there are more programmes available out there which can be found either online or arranged through your GP/family doctor.
The last thing I wanted to say is although I imagine what you are going through right now currently feels terrible, all encompassing and like there's no way out, the one thing I have realised after coming out of my anxious/depressed state is what a learning curb it was for me. I'm 25 and over these past 5 years I have learnt SO much about myself that its really helped me grow as a person. Now I'm not as focused on my anxiety and have more time to spend focusing on others everybody around me has commented on how emotionally aware I am and how easy it is to be around me. I've literally had people ask me what my secret is!! I really think that comes down to the anxiety/depression I went through and how now, having seen rock bottom, I really we'll and truly know myself. Aswell as that, having gone through so much pain I can really relate to others and understand that, on some level everybody is trying to free themselves from suffering.
Also, other anxiety or depression sufferers I have met in the past are so because they are highly intelligent, causing them to ask these anxiety/stress inducing questions about themselves and life in general over and over again. So if there's one thing you can take away from what you are going through, please at least see how much you must understand another aspect of yourself, which I'm sure will be of great advantage to you...and also that you are probably very intelligent!! :)
Sorry to go on, but I just hope that maybe this message will speak to somebody out there and that they can realise that every one deserves the right to be happy and anxious-free. Although we are all going to encounter bumps along the way (and in life there will always be bumps!) there is also so much happiness there and so much to live for. Sometimes we just need to take a step back in order to see that little bit more clearly.
All the best!!