Need your support with facing my fears!

[gettingoverit]

Hey fellow members,
It has been a year or so since I wrote something here, but I have been lurking once in a while. Anyway, I have managed to get my anxiety under control (for the most part) with Panic Away, a better diet, exercise and relaxation techniques.

Here is where I need your support. I have always wanted to travel the world and experience new things, but once the anxiety hit that all went down the tubes. I know the way to help the anxiety is to face your fears and I do that on a daily bases. A few months ago I signed up to teach English in Japan and I leave in 2 weeks. I am totally excited to say the least, however my anxiety is coming back strong and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. I really have nothing to fear since I have everything done for the trip and I already have my apartment situation taken care of over there. Basically, I just have to get on the plane and have fun.

I'm just fearing that if I have an anxiety attack in Japan or on the plane that I will die or they will ship me back home. This will also be the first time that I will move at of my parent's house as well so that makes it a double-wammy! So if anyone has some advice or words of encouragement I would be most appreciative.

[ciaran_p]

Hey. Just reading your post and felt compelled to tell you my experience. For the past seven years I've been suffering with anxiety and derealisation. When I was younger, I always wanted to travel, but I felt like my 'condition' had robbed me of that ambition. Firstly, I thought that once I got on the plane, I would freak out and have a massive attack. Secondly, I thought that once I was at my destination, things would seem too unreal and I'd just implode or something, and thirdly I thought that being in a constant anxious state, I just wouldn't enjoy it. Well, at the beggining of the year, my girlfriend convinced me to go to thailand for the summer. The very thought of it got my heart racing with fear(i'd already turned down trips to chicago and boston in the last couple of years). But then I told myself, hang on, anxiety is robbing me of my life. I basically said f*#k you to the anxiety and went ahead and booked the tickets, thinking whatever will be will be. Like you, I was getting more anxious as it became time to go. Eventually I forced myself to get to the airport. As we entered departures, my heart was racing like mad. I took one beta blocker which sorted that out! Before I knew it, I was on the plane and I never looked back. We had the time of our lives and everything I feared would happen, didn't. Now im home, I've been bitten by the travelling bug. I'm constantly planning my next trip! Its so liberating to face your fears in the face, say f#*k you to it, and realise that they had been falsely holding you back for so long. When you visualise your trip, visualise the fun things you are going to do, block out the negative thoughts. Have the back up of a beta blocker or two, it will reassure you that if you do get panicky, the symptoms will quickly go. And go live you're life...anxiety never killed anyone! P.S Japan is on my list of destinations, and I'm also a newly qualified history teacher and would love to teach abroad, so let me know what its like over there!

[gettingoverit]

Thanks! That is how I feel and I actually have my emergency Valium with me just in case :) If you need some help getting around Japan in a few months let me know, I would be glad to help. I won't let this shit when tho. If I go down it's going down with me!

[ciaran_p]

Ha, thats the spirit! Good luck, not that you'll need it. Honestly think that once you've done it, you'll open up so many doors. Let me know how it goes for you. Now go make anxiety your bitch!!