Has Anyone Here Actually Overcome Anxiety?

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Has anyone here actually overcome anxiety? Obviously I'm talking about life-debilitating anxiety, not everyday healthy anxiety. What was it that helped you overcome it?
Thanks for sharing. :)

[jimmy2shoes]

I don't like the idea of 'overcoming' anxiety. It makes it feel like anxiety is to be 'conquered' and defeated. That makes you the winner, and anxiety the loser. I don't know about everyone else, but personally my biggest problem regarding anxiety was that I was trying to 'beat' it all the time. To 'stop thinking' about this or that was a success, and thinking about it was a failure.
The problem was, I kept losing. Again and again and again. I was always trying to stop thinking irrationally, to stop thinking about it. This actually made it worse.
I came to the realisation that anxiety is an ongoing emotion in my life. In fact, anxiety is now a part of me, something that I have not overcome (because it comes back when I am stressed or lacking sleep) rather it is something I have accepted (even though I hate it more than anything else in the world). By doing so, I found an enormous amount of relief. It was OK to 'lose', it was OK to have a bad anxiety day, and my life - piece by piece, gradually but undoubtely got better, and I am MOSTLY 'anxiety' free (we all have our personalised checklist/triggers that say 'i am anxious now' or and 'I am not anxious now')
I think because anxiety is a normal part of human functioning - it should never be conquered nor overcome, rather understood and managed. I say this because let's say you 'overcome' anxiety, and something traumatising happens. Something that - would trigger ANYONES nervous system into overload - e.g a car accident, or you hit a pedestrian as they run across the road (god forbid). Guess what... 'YOUR ANXIETY'S BACK' and, back to square one you are like...'Oh no, the anxiety is back' and.. 'I thought I beat anxiety' .. and yada yada we've all been there and know exactly what that shit feeling is like.
My attitude when my 'anxiety' is bad is.. 'Eh my anxiety is playing up'.. and I do what I need to do until it settles, and I return to my life - whether its more sleep, more exercise or whatever.
I think i need to point out that most people here arn't at that time in their anxiety days yet - chances are, you are here because your anxiety has peaked or is peaking (that's when I came here and sought help) and I can promise I have been where you are. But I assure you that in the suffering you are actually learning, and while the despair and helplessness can be very overwhelming, I speak from experience that things get better. Just give it time, and like everything else, practice means improvement.
Hope this yap helps,
Cheers

[Robbed]

Also, you need to define 'overcome'. In my case, I have gotten over ALOT of my anxiety symptoms. That was actually the easy part. But my personal issues that caused my anxiety problems in the first place seem as insurmountable as ever. Honestly, dealing with these problems is going to make getting over 'free-floating anxiety', panic attacks, and unreality seem like child's play.

[jar4u]

I don't like the idea of 'overcoming' anxiety. It makes it feel like anxiety is to be 'conquered' and defeated. That makes you the winner, and anxiety the loser. I don't know about everyone else, but personally my biggest problem regarding anxiety was that I was trying to 'beat' it all the time. To 'stop thinking' about this or that was a success, and thinking about it was a failure.
The problem was, I kept losing. Again and again and again. I was always trying to stop thinking irrationally, to stop thinking about it. This actually made it worse.
I came to the realisation that anxiety is an ongoing emotion in my life. In fact, anxiety is now a part of me, something that I have not overcome (because it comes back when I am stressed or lacking sleep) rather it is something I have accepted (even though I hate it more than anything else in the world). By doing so, I found an enormous amount of relief. It was OK to 'lose', it was OK to have a bad anxiety day, and my life - piece by piece, gradually but undoubtely got better, and I am MOSTLY 'anxiety' free (we all have our personalised checklist/triggers that say 'i am anxious now' or and 'I am not anxious now')
I think because anxiety is a normal part of human functioning - it should never be conquered nor overcome, rather understood and managed. I say this because let's say you 'overcome' anxiety, and something traumatising happens. Something that - would trigger ANYONES nervous system into overload - e.g a car accident, or you hit a pedestrian as they run across the road (god forbid). Guess what... 'YOUR ANXIETY'S BACK' and, back to square one you are like...'Oh no, the anxiety is back' and.. 'I thought I beat anxiety' .. and yada yada we've all been there and know exactly what that shit feeling is like.
My attitude when my 'anxiety' is bad is.. 'Eh my anxiety is playing up'.. and I do what I need to do until it settles, and I return to my life - whether its more sleep, more exercise or whatever.
I think i need to point out that most people here arn't at that time in their anxiety days yet - chances are, you are here because your anxiety has peaked or is peaking (that's when I came here and sought help) and I can promise I have been where you are. But I assure you that in the suffering you are actually learning, and while the despair and helplessness can be very overwhelming, I speak from experience that things get better. Just give it time, and like everything else, practice means improvement.
Hope this yap helps,
Cheers

Well said my friend, Its all about getting used to it & accepting it rather then fighting it & having a continuous war going on within yourself, once you accept you have an anxiety disorder and all the sensations are simply a part of it, the fear start to loose its effects & start retrieving, A stressful day or less sleep can get some of the symptoms back but it will be very mild and you will know how to keep it aside and get on with your normal life, But you have to constantly eat healthy, Think healthy, Breath Healthy & Sleep Healthy, Basically give your body all its basic requirements.

[gtinto]

I totally agree with some of you, I don't think it's about overcoming it, I think it's about learning how to deal with it in everyday life and to just relax about things that you tend to stress out about. I've been dealing with it about a year and it is a very horrible experience and can leave you feeling useless and miserable. When i first got help I started taking propranolol 40mg twice daily to slow my heart rate down when panicking and also started councelling sessions weekly which really helped. At the moment i'm still taking the medication and overall as time comes and with the right help you just loosen all the anxieties and somehow they just don't seem as scary anymore. I'm a christian and knowing that I have god with me through it all really benifited me.
It says in the bible that god doesn't give you anything that you cant handle- It's good to know this, makes you feel encouraged and ready to deal with anxiety head on instead of fearing it.

Hope this helps! :-)

[Zuena]

I can honestly say that I have overcome anxiety. To write everything here will take forever so if you wish, you can go back to my posts and read them.

My anxiety came from an insecure childhood, but has always been activated by something specific that was happening in my life - a big move, divorce or such. I learnt to sort out the issue, then change the way I respond to the physical symptoms and head games that anxiety plays with you.

I don't know what will happen when the next big change in my life comes along. I do believe that I will manage it fine because of what I have learnt. Only time will tell!

Z