There are some great tips on this forum and i think you should read through them all to get some confidence, however I think the biggest tip out there is to, as they say, "just do it". Getting out there and facing your anxiety and fear head on is the best thing you can do for yourself, but it can also feel as the scariest challenge. It's okay to feel scared, that's the idea of anxiety is it not? So I thought I'd share some of my own tips for dealing with getting out there and just doing it. Here are some steps to do while getting yourself ready to go out there.
1. Learn to breathe - practice correct breathing when you are not stressed, do not attempt to learn how to breathe correctly while having a panic attack, it will just make things work. Make sure you are in your safe place and relaxed and learn to breathe correctly then, it will take a few days to get done correctly and a few days to stop feeling woozy from breathing like this, it's okay to feel a little weird at first, but it gets better. Make sure to associate good feelings with breathing, try to be relaxed entirely, some people also associate some sort of movement with inhaling/exhaling, for instance, raise your arm slowly as you inhale and lower it even more slowly as you exhale, continue to do this, until its almost natural. You can then call on your breathing technique when you feel a panic attack is about to come on and watch it completely dissipate!!!
2. Meditate - once you learn how to breathe correctly, meditating will become much easier because it will be much easier for you to get into a relaxed state at which point you can concentrate on meditation fully. Acknowledge your thoughts, don't judge them, don't push them away, but let them float like water through you, observe them, but don't react. Meditation helps slow down your racing thoughts and helps make you feel more grounded and balanced.
3. Exercise - when you learn how to meditate you will be able to get into the "zone", once you can get into the zone you can apply it to your exercise routine. Exercise is great as it has physical benefits, mental benefits and you can also be in a meditative state while exercising for that extra mental benefit. For instance, i meditate while i swim, this is because i know how to breathe correctly while swimming and as i said before breathing allows you to relax and meditate easier. You can do this with anything, jogging, swimming, walking...just stay active and you will simply reap benefits.
4. Diet - once you start exercising you will feel motivated in other places, such places is eating good food, im not saying watch your weight, but don't eat too much junk and make sure you have appropriate amount of meals during the day, especially breakfast. Try to cut out coffee and eat something healthy for breakfast, for instance i have been eating cottage cheese with a banana every morning and it helps me not feel so dizzy at lunch time. Remember food is your energy and if you don't have energy you may get a blood sugar drop which may make you feel lethargic, dizzy and anxious and this can feed the fire of your own anxiety.
5. Positive reinforcement and cognitive therapy - look at the next day not as another torture, but another day to get better. Time is unlimited, you have all the time in the world to turn your life around or you can sit at home and be afraid to make the necessary steps to help yourself, remember this is all up to you. If you gave yourself anxiety, you can make it go away. I used to dread waking up and going to work, but now I look forward to it, maybe today i didn't have a great day, that means tomorrow I can try again. What an amazing amount of chances I am given. Remember that negative thinking is what got you here then by laws of logic positive thinking is what will get you out, it is just how nature works and how we work as human beings.
6. Patience and Practice - patience is very important, nothing will happen in a week or a month or even two months, but you will get results within a few weeks. Sure you will still get anxious and maybe a panic attack here and there, but you will definitely be better than you were before, it helps to keep a diary of your progress, or just your thoughts on the day. You can look at them in 2 weeks and see the difference for yourself, even if you haven't conquered anxiety yet you will see that progress has been made. Remember even medication takes up to 4 weeks to have any effect, so why would you expect it to go away in a week. Remove all expectations from yourself and just set some goals, not anxiety goals, but real goals..like, i will exercise or i will practice breathing for 10 minutes everyday, these are realistic goals. Setting a goal like "i will not have panic attacks in 2 weeks" is just setting yourself up for disappointment and further lack of motivation, just don't do that to yourself.
Remember you will experience anxiety, you will experience panic attacks, but attitude is the key to the whole thing. If your attitude is positive and you deal with this as a challenge rather than a burden, you will achieve results. Follow the steps and be persistence and patient.
Good luck,
Stan.
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