Please post positive success stories -- NO NEGATIVITY (please)

[KeepFighting]

Hello all. I am new to this forum having just signed up today. All the posts I see are, understandably, about the problems that we all face and strive to overcome. I would like this thread to be about triumphs we have had over social anxiety, depression, or really anything at all. I hope you all think this is a good idea, and if so please refrain from posting anything negative here. I'll start it off by posting a victory I had last Tuesday:

I was very anxious to meet a friend from high school I had not seen in a long time for lunch. I thought about canceling but I went anyways. When we were talking, I felt myself begin to get depressed and internally withdraw from the conversation, but I fought against it. I told myself to smile, re-engage, and be present in the moment. I was able to do so and began to feel better and more interested in what was being said. I'm proud that I was able to change my negative thought process in the moment pull myself out of a downward spiral.

I look forward to reading you success stories!

[MainerMikeBrown]

For years, I dealt with terrible anxieties. And I wasn't making any progress in calming down. My doctors over the years kept increasing the meds that I was already on. But it wasn't working.

Hence, I decided to put my foot down. I told my doctor that adjusting my meds wasn't working. I told him that we needed to do something drastic with my meds, because I couldn't keep living like this.

From there, my doctor took me off two of the four pills I was on and then prescribed two new meds. It worked! And boy was I happy that I was calm for the first time in years!

[ananxiousgirl]

I need positive stories, too.

[Chiliphil1]

I think the reason that there have not been many replies to this topic is because positive success stories are not that common, not saying that you can't have success, just that it is a tough road to get there.

I know everyone can beat anxiety, but the road is full of self discovery, relapse, and small victories, so the I beat anxiety in 2 days story doesn't exist.

With that said, I can say that I have had success, I started out with crippling anxiety, fear of death, such a fear of heart problems that I just stayed sitting on the couch so as not to cause any strain on it. I had health anxiety to absolutely unreasonable levels and found myself without any joy or happiness in my life.

I did a few things that helped me, I learned as much as I could about what anxiety is, what it does, what the side effects are and why they happen. I learned to control my panic attacks and calm myself, I was fortunate enough to be able to take a short vacation in the height of my anxiety and was anxiety free for 2 days during that trip which showed me that not only could I be happy again, but how good it could be. I took a 4 month course of antidepressants and came out much better on the other end.

Today, I am able to do the physical activities that I love again, I am overall happy with things, and my anxiety is reduced to maybe 40-50% of what it was, and in my mind that is a solid victory.

[firefly06]

I consider each day that I don't feel anxious and sick as a small victory. It's what has given me strength and motivation to continue fighting it and taking control of it. I'm not cured or even close to getting the cause of it fixed, but I enjoy the peaceful moments and know even when I'm feeling shitty, that it will pass and that this isn't permanent! Enjoy the good times as much as you can!