PanicCured
12-01-2011, 06:47 PM
It seems, a lot of the posts on this forum have a lot in common. This is of course, what brought us all here together. A couple running themes I've noticed from many posts is,
1) I am doomed for life with this horrible illness
and
2) I can't believe this has happened to me
There tends to be an aura of shame and embarrassment along with it too. There is this fear that nothing will ever get better and it will just keep going down this deep dark spiral.
Let me assure you, there is no dark hole to fall into. There is no insanity at the end of the line. You never actually get to any place that you fear you will get to. What you've already experienced, is as dark as it gets. And if there was some hole to fall into, you would come out the other side to wonderful light and have some type of awakening experience. Then you would write books and do seminars on how enlightened you are and you'd make lots of money.
Is it possible you are your worst critic? Are you being too hard on yourself? After all, we are only human.
My guess is that it takes a certain perfectionistic personality to be prone to anxiety. That may be why we see these recurring themes.
If you broke your arm and had to wear a cast, would you shout at the doctor, "Will it ever get better? Will I have to wear this cast for years and will my arm never heal?" or would you just have an understanding the arm needs some time to heal and soon it will be better.
You would most likely, wear the cast for 2 months, during this time, you would have to limit some activities and nurse your arm a bit. You would go back to the doctor after the cast came off and take some more X Rays, do some stretching and whatever rehabilitation you needed to do to get your arm back to normal. Then go back and get more X Rays some time down the road and make sure your arm healed properly. After some time, maybe around 6 months, you're arm would be back to normal and you would have forgotten about what happened and back to your life as normal. Why not take this approach to anxiety or other mental issues? Why jump straight to you are going insane and all is doomed and your heart will beat so fast it will explode, then your brain will burst out of your head and you will lay in the middle of the sidewalk in 12 different pieces with everyone watching you?
Is it possible you are way to critical and over-demanding of yourself and how you should be? We are humans. Humans are meant to feel fear and anxiety is a built in mechanism of our biology. It is a natural thing to experience. We just experience it in an inappropriate setting, and we need to retrain our brains to recognize that. If primitive cavemen did not have an anxiety or fear fight or flight system, they would have said, "Hmm, hey mate, I think a tiger's coming, oh well. No biggie." Then lightly walked away from the saber toothed tiger not really caring too much and they would have been caught and eaten up. Then none of us would be here.
There are very few people, if any, that will actually laugh at you for what you're going through. Most people have experienced an anxiety attack at least once in their life. Don't be scared to talk about it with people. It doesn't mean you are weak. Even the strongest of people have vulnerable moments and break down. There is no reason to feel any shame, anymore than if your lover of 5 years just decided to get up and leave you one day. Noone would think you were lame for crying or being sad over that. Rarely anyone will think less of you for what you're going through now. Just don't talk about it too much where it becomes all you focus on. If you talk about how bad your life is too much, then it can make you feel worse.
Please take some time and treat yourself right. Love yourself, and don't be so willing to pass judgment on yourself for what you're going through. Look at yourself in the mirror and smile and tell yourself, "I love you. You're the best!" Try to recognize when you have irrational "gloom and doom the world's coming to an end" thinking. Turn that downward spiral into an upward climb. Be patient, and be gentle on yourself.
Good luck!
1) I am doomed for life with this horrible illness
and
2) I can't believe this has happened to me
There tends to be an aura of shame and embarrassment along with it too. There is this fear that nothing will ever get better and it will just keep going down this deep dark spiral.
Let me assure you, there is no dark hole to fall into. There is no insanity at the end of the line. You never actually get to any place that you fear you will get to. What you've already experienced, is as dark as it gets. And if there was some hole to fall into, you would come out the other side to wonderful light and have some type of awakening experience. Then you would write books and do seminars on how enlightened you are and you'd make lots of money.
Is it possible you are your worst critic? Are you being too hard on yourself? After all, we are only human.
My guess is that it takes a certain perfectionistic personality to be prone to anxiety. That may be why we see these recurring themes.
If you broke your arm and had to wear a cast, would you shout at the doctor, "Will it ever get better? Will I have to wear this cast for years and will my arm never heal?" or would you just have an understanding the arm needs some time to heal and soon it will be better.
You would most likely, wear the cast for 2 months, during this time, you would have to limit some activities and nurse your arm a bit. You would go back to the doctor after the cast came off and take some more X Rays, do some stretching and whatever rehabilitation you needed to do to get your arm back to normal. Then go back and get more X Rays some time down the road and make sure your arm healed properly. After some time, maybe around 6 months, you're arm would be back to normal and you would have forgotten about what happened and back to your life as normal. Why not take this approach to anxiety or other mental issues? Why jump straight to you are going insane and all is doomed and your heart will beat so fast it will explode, then your brain will burst out of your head and you will lay in the middle of the sidewalk in 12 different pieces with everyone watching you?
Is it possible you are way to critical and over-demanding of yourself and how you should be? We are humans. Humans are meant to feel fear and anxiety is a built in mechanism of our biology. It is a natural thing to experience. We just experience it in an inappropriate setting, and we need to retrain our brains to recognize that. If primitive cavemen did not have an anxiety or fear fight or flight system, they would have said, "Hmm, hey mate, I think a tiger's coming, oh well. No biggie." Then lightly walked away from the saber toothed tiger not really caring too much and they would have been caught and eaten up. Then none of us would be here.
There are very few people, if any, that will actually laugh at you for what you're going through. Most people have experienced an anxiety attack at least once in their life. Don't be scared to talk about it with people. It doesn't mean you are weak. Even the strongest of people have vulnerable moments and break down. There is no reason to feel any shame, anymore than if your lover of 5 years just decided to get up and leave you one day. Noone would think you were lame for crying or being sad over that. Rarely anyone will think less of you for what you're going through now. Just don't talk about it too much where it becomes all you focus on. If you talk about how bad your life is too much, then it can make you feel worse.
Please take some time and treat yourself right. Love yourself, and don't be so willing to pass judgment on yourself for what you're going through. Look at yourself in the mirror and smile and tell yourself, "I love you. You're the best!" Try to recognize when you have irrational "gloom and doom the world's coming to an end" thinking. Turn that downward spiral into an upward climb. Be patient, and be gentle on yourself.
Good luck!