Would love to feel at peace again.

[Poke]

I've been feeling really down for a few months now but its been brought up to a whole new level in light of a few recent events in my life. On the top of this I have also been suffering from anxiety. I get really scary thoughts every now and again and that just furthers it. It is rare that I find myself feeling comfortable or at peace and when I manage that it isn't long before my brain starts to work against me and think up scary thoughts and then I'm back at square one. Right now I am feeling VERY down and pessimistic about me breaking out of this cycle.

I feel like I am so trapped and I am so sick and angry at being scared all the time. I suppose what I am trying to get at is that I really need advice about what I should do. I just want to be happy again.

[lauz_lea]

Hey Poke - I'm so sorry you're feeling so trapped and scared, but you know that I know how you feel, I've been there.

You've offered me great distraction when we've been in chat and it has really helped, so the best advice I can give is distraction. Start with something small, like a crossword or a jigsaw, I find this helps me enormously and gets me away from my thoughts.

A little gently exercise outside will help too. Start small if you need to. I've been going for a 45min power walk for the last three days and it's helped a lot.

Eat as healthily as you can and avoid food that might, under normal circumstances, make you feel sluggish or heavy (like fast food).

Accept how you feel and don't fight it - when you get a song stuck in your head, what do you do? I bet you don't fight it off, you just sing it and eventually it goes away. Use the same process, it's worked for me.

You'll get there, but you alone have to make the first step, but it's the hardest and scariest to take.

Sending you hugs :bighug1:

[saro]

Hey Poke,

It wont come straight away.. it never does. It is something you need to build upon. There are many different ways you can try pick yourself up. I tend to set myself small targets to achieve. For the anxiety the best thing I found when I got terrible thoughts was to distract myself and think about something else along with relaxation, meditation and yoga.

Hope this helps x