setbacks in recovery

[acasey]

Hi everyone, its been awhile since i was last on here. I made myself stay off of all these forums and websites about anxiety. how can you recover from anxiety when its all you think about right? so the fact that here I am again, is not a good feeling. I have been "trying" to recover from anxiety for about 2 months now. I have come a long way! but just when i was starting to feel like i was getting back to normal. BAM! it feels like im back at square one again. Although i know all the things iv learned to overcome this, its seems when my anxiety is high i have a harder time applying it. Most of my symptoms had disappeared, just a few lingering that were no longer bothering me. in the last couple weeks i have let my stress build and build. trying to find a job in nursing is not an easy task. putting so much effort into finding one, and not even getting one single call back was really getting me down. I feel my life is sort of on hold right now until i can start working. so thats got my stress going up. then i was in the midst of planning my best friends bridal shower, that did not help with the stress either. But the other day i started thinking about how bad its pissing me off that im still not 100%. probably 80%, but thats just not good enough! so i started focusing on symptoms again, feeling sorry for myself and constantly analyzing how i feel. so because i am probably the most inpatient person in the entire world, i now feel like im back at square one. I know that when you are recovering from anxiety it takes alot of time, and there will be setbacks. and i know that this is a set back for sure. but my question is for anyone who has recoverd from anxiety or is in the process of recovering. is there anything i can do to avoid setbacks? or is it going to happen no matter what, despite my efforts? im having a hard time accepting that it may still be awhile before im 100%. I get very down wondering if i will ever feel completly 'normal' again. i just need some advise i guess. any suggestiongs on how to get back on track to my recovery.

[acasey]

thanks forwells, you always have great advice. yes, two months is not a long time at all. Iv been in this anxiety cycle for about 6 months. but at the start of it i was going back and forth looking for the right medication that would solve all my problems. it wasn't until i realized that there is no such thing, stopped trying different meds that i really started to try and recover the right way. so that was about 2 months ago. Wow, three years is a very long time, im not sure i could handel that! right now for me its def the mental symptoms that get me worked up. i can have chest pain all day, but for some reason i could care less about that. Im trying hard to not let the fear creep back in. i think at this point its not so much the fear of the symptoms and what they mean. I know what they are now. but what scares me is to think that those symptoms may never go away, or will take years to go away, like three! what kind of tings did you do to help your recovery? for me I am taking some vitamines, exercise, cut out caffeine, containing my fear, trying to live my life as i normally would. do you have any other techniques that helped you along the way?

[iurod]

Hi acasey,
I totally understand where your coming from. I've been battling anxiety for 5 years now. There are definitely going to be setbacks. Every time I have a setback I say to myself this is just a road block and I have to break through it. Once you do you feel a great wave of happiness and satisfaction. Just hang in there and continue to to break through the road blocks it will make you stronger every time.

I've found that all my setbacks happen during stressful times in my life. In your case looking for a new nursing job. Try going out for a run, meditation, or something physical that will blow off some energy. this has helped me reduce stress and overcome the road blocks.

"This too shall pass"