Anxiety Sufferer needs questions answered!

[Lydia Ainsworth]

Hello! I am 20 years old and have been suffering with anxiety since I was 11 years older. As time and life continued to happen my condition worsened and with help I have started to overcome alot of anxieties obstacles!

I study Visual Communication at university in the UK. (Its kinda like graphic design and illustration)

As a problem for myself and millions of other people, I decided to do final project on it for this year.

I want to create a book that is relatable and tells peoples stories, but also more upbeat.

A book of hope?

I want to include things and techniques that help people so I am going to post a few questions and I hope some of you will answer to help me out!

Questions:

1. If you listen to music in times of high anxiety, what songs may you listen to and why?

2. Can you think of some positives to having anxiety? (i.e. I'm very organised and never late!)

3. Have you got any stories of that could offer some hope? (I.e. I didn't go to a supermarket on my own or at all, but now I can now because of...)

4. Do you do certain activities to help overcome anxiety, if so what and how do they help? (Sports, Yoga, Drawing, Reading.)


5. What advice would you give other anxiety sufferers?


Only a few here, but if anyone could answer them that would be amazing!

Lydia

[HookTheCodfish]

1. If you listen to music in times of high anxiety, what songs may you listen to and why?

Something soothing, usually from movie soundtracks. "Lord of the Rings," "The DaVinci Code," "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," "Inception" and "Mrs. Soffel" are all ones I recommend to people with anxiety. If you're a sci-fi fan I also recommend "Mirrorshades" and the various "Neuromancer" themed instrumentals you can find on YouTube. (Especially "Molly's Theme" and "Wintermute.")

Otherwise, something upbeat like "Grease," "Hairspray," "Rocky Horror Picture Show," Muppet songs, or rock songs from the '50s and '60s.

2. Can you think of some positives to having anxiety? (i.e. I'm very organised and never late!)
[B]

You have a lot to go off of when writing emotional scenes in stories.

Otherwise no, I can't think of any positives.

3. Have you got any stories of that could offer some hope? (I.e. I didn't go to a supermarket on my own or at all, but now I can now because of...)

I stopped taking advice from the grownups who kept insisting I wasn't capable of living independently at age 24, and instead listened to my Dad, one of the few people who saw me as an adult human. With his guidance I got a fulltime job at a gas station, and got an apartment. Improvement skyrocketed. But there were still problems, living only 15-minutes away from my mentally ill mom and not being allowed to have a pet in my apartment. Moving to another city would be hard since I had no car, and I would need to have a job in said city first. So I finally requested a transfer to the one gas station outside the city I was living in, which was a half-hour away. I took two buses to this city to look at apartments, and got myself one, then told my dad after I'd bought it. He helped me move, though if he hadn't I'd have called "2 Men and a Truck."

So I moved out there, and worked during the worst winter I'd seen in 20 years of living in Wisconsin, with the worst work commute I'd ever had: taking a bus to the last stop, then walking 15-20 minutes along the highway (illegal) in below-freezing weather. Put up with that for a few months until I finally found a job at a grocery store in walking distance from my bad, and jumped ship. That place didn't give enough hours to live on though, so I got another job at another gas station. That was great until they fired me out of the blue (my coworkers were as shocked as I was, so I'm confident I'm at least partially innocent). Was unemployed for about three weeks. Reconciled a bit with my parents, even my mom, who was actually supportive without overdoing it like she often does. Then got the job I have now, at a respectable drug store (can't say the name, as this company is strict about discussing work on social media).

Now I've decided that I'm no longer going to waste time or energy looking for a "real" job. I'm getting started on a self-made career as a freelance artist and novelist. I'm working on a short novella for an online contest, with a "real" novel on the back-burner; and I've begun to sell cartoon art commissions online for a few bucks a piece.

Man I am glad you asked me to write that out; I suddenly feel like a badass now! This was extremely therapeutic. Thanks!

4. Do you do certain activities to help overcome anxiety, if so what and how do they help? (Sports, Yoga, Drawing, Reading.)

Going for a walk daily while listening to music. (If my I-pod breaks down I'm basically fucked, so I try to stay on top of that and make sure it's charged. Or that I have music on my phone as a backup.)

Drawing helps too, but that's more of a "when I feel like it" type of thing.

5. How have you managed you're anxiety?

Woa, deja vu.

I went to counselors in school where they were free, I'm on meds (Fluoxotine), and all the other stuff I just mentioned in the other questions.

6. What advice would you give other anxiety sufferers?

Listen to experts, not society.

Society will tell you, "it's all about your own attitude! If doesn't matter if you live in a gulag, if you just smile and think of bunnies your life will rock!" and "You brat, how dare you snub your family after all they've done for you!" and "your pioneer ancestors didn't have no 'meds' to cope with their white-girl problems!"

A therapist or a fellow anxiety sufferer will probably tell you, "You have a chemical imbalance that you can NOT control solely with will power; you have to find an environment that won't be triggering anxiety attacks in you every two seconds; you deserve to prioritize your mental health; you might need meds to manage this; and many of your pioneer ancestors were fucked and died young because they didn't have all the help you have."

[Exactice]

Hello! I am 20 years old and have been suffering with anxiety since I was 11 years older. As time and life continued to happen my condition worsened and with help I have started to overcome alot of anxieties obstacles!

I study Visual Communication at university in the UK. (Its kinda like graphic design and illustration)

As a problem for myself and millions of other people, I decided to do final project on it for this year.

I want to create a book that is relatable and tells peoples stories, but also more upbeat.

A book of hope?

I want to include things and techniques that help people so I am going to post a few questions and I hope some of you will answer to help me out!

Questions:

1. If you listen to music in times of high anxiety, what songs may you listen to and why?

Music not so much, I do love Hypnotherapy and I use it quite often, usually within the hypnotherapy they do have the soothing relaxing music. If I did have a choice of music though and its on my car radio station when ever I m driving, its Klove, while I am not a religious person, I feel positive music helps sooth me. Many times I hear music of cheating or anger or something depressing so I try to keep a positive spin, K love has got that for me.

2. Can you think of some positives to having anxiety? (i.e. I'm very organized and never late!)
Positives, I can say I am extremely cognitive of my body now. Very aware of my surroundings and situations.

3. Have you got any stories of that could offer some hope? (I.e. I didn't go to a supermarket on my own or at all, but now I can now because of...)
A positive spin, that I like to share........ Do not fear the relapses. Challenge them treat them like speed bumps, Treat the like challenges to see how better you handle them and how much faster you get over them. You will notice slowly that they get easier and easier and easier.

4. Do you do certain activities to help overcome anxiety, if so what and how do they help? (Sports, Yoga, Drawing, Reading.)
Nice Slow Walks with my daughter and wife. They are soothing and relaxing, it increase the heart rate slowly, and gets the adrenaline rushes out. Its a nice combo to shake the anxiety and panic attacks out.

5. What advice would you give other anxiety sufferers?

My best advice, treat panic and anxiety like a small child that is throwing a tantrum, it doesnt last forever and its a child that doesnt really know what going on, you just need to talk it down, sooth it and things will get better..... Dont yell at it more or give it more fuel or its going to get worse........ Its a crying baby.........nurture it!


Only a few here, but if anyone could answer them that would be amazing!

Lydia

My thoughts!!! Hope this helps a little!

[RyanMeehan837]

1. If you listen to music in times of high anxiety, what songs may you listen to and why?

This will vary for everybody. Personally I find classical music to be very anxiety-inducing, while others find it calming. Same thing with music that is too upbeat or happy.

2. Can you think of some positives to having anxiety? (i.e. I'm very organised and never late!)
[B]

I tend to be able to channel my anxious energy into a lot of activity for the most part

3. Have you got any stories of that could offer some hope? (I.e. I didn't go to a supermarket on my own or at all, but now I can now because of...)

I work in cell phone retail and suffer from chronic insomnia. I had been wiped out and not slept the night before a court appearance in which I had to drive 30 minutes to get to the courthouse. I was on no sleep and was very anxious throughout the day until about 3PM. It was about then when I got into a stretch of making some serious sales (I work a base plus commission job) and by the end of the day (9PM) I had made about $350 for very little work. When I got home, I wasn't even tired. I felt like I could do anything. And I do believe that second wind was due to me realizing I had overcome my anxiety that day! It was an extremely relieving feeling.

4. Do you do certain activities to help overcome anxiety, if so what and how do they help? (Sports, Yoga, Drawing, Reading.)

Playing music, writing music, writing poetry, exercise but only if I'm not light-headed from a panic attack.

5. How have you managed your anxiety?

I have managed it by distracting myself from the act of being anxious itself. The way I see it is: If you are busy enough, you will be too busy to be anxious. It sounds crazy but it's true. I have found ways to cope by slowly working it out of my life.

6. What advice would you give other anxiety sufferers?

Don't always count on what works for others. I know that seems contradictory on a thread such as this one, but you have to find what's right for you. Experiment with all types of therapy but not with drugs. Eventually you will find something that produces results.

I hope this helps! Let us know your findings!

[Lydia Ainsworth]

Thankyou so much for answering! Yes I will let you know, my deadline is in around 3 weeks so once it's all completed I will take some images and upload them to my portfolio and post a link on here for you to see Once again thankyou!

[Dahila]

Lydia do you realize that two people posted in your thread?

[Lydia Ainsworth]

What do you mean? Yes I can see the 3 replies... and have just posted thanking them! I don't know what you mean.

[Dahila]

sorry 4 mine is 4).........................We had tons of people asking this and most of us do not even answer it. Exactice answered, he is the only one from old members