When Anxiety Bites Hard...Don't Bite Back. Make It Your Friend.

I can't count how many people I know suffer from some form of anxiety. I've had family members who have locked themselves away for extended periods of time that they cannot face the world at all. I've had friends who cannot go to certain places. Finally, I myself have suffered from different levels of anxiety throughout my 20's, some which have lead to being physically ill. 

One thing I have learnt from their experiences and my own, is that overcoming anxiety is one thing that can be challenged head on. 

Some people worry obsessively about outcomes of events that have not yet happened, this results in feeling anxious and being unable to move forward. However, what is required is simply to not drown the worrying or the anxious feelings, but to simply let them come for the journey with you. 

I got past all my anxieties by employing this simple technique. If it started to creep up, I simply had a small internal dialogue, treating it as a little friend. Inviting it along for the ride. 

This ultimately resulted in my ability to move past the anxious feelings and into the things that were making me feel anxious in the first place. 

Although it is easier said than done, any new set of behaviour needs to be consistently solidified time and time again. 

This is the way in which I did it, I first started employing it for the smaller things then moved the process on to the larger things. 

Everybody I know who has battled and won against anxiety, took a similar approach. 

They made it their friend. Low and behold, it's constant chatter eventually just got a little quieter. Once something is acknowledged it doesn't need to scream as loud and fight to get your attention. It just needs to exist. 

I'm proud to say that following a natural approach in dealing with matters of the mind is always the best medicine. It just takes a little bit more persistence than popping a pill. 

#anxiety #life #writing #psychology