Having fully recovered from my anxiety disorder and panic attacks that lasted 2 years, I thought it only right that I share the details of how I overcame this so that others may find peace in their lives again too. Here are some valuable lessons I learnt on my road to recovery:
1. Don’t pay for treatment. Prescriptions from the doctors were a waste of time, didn’t help, only prolonged the symptoms and made them worse. I paid for a course that whilst was helpful I could have used the knowledge already shared on sites like this. The only thing I would recommend paying for if you do think it will help is for sessions with a counsellor. Having that one to one time to talk things over helped at first, but to get rid of the anxiety you have to change your mindset completely, and one of the ways to do that is to STOP talking about it. Trust me, I know how hard that is, but it’s the brutal truth to defeating it.
2. Meditation. This is the best thing I ever did. It quiets your mind over time, until one day you will be minding your own business and all of a sudden those annoying voices in your head won’t be there any more and you’ll be in a state of calm. Just start by doing 10mins a day and built it up gradually. Stick to it and you’ll see results within a week or so.
3. Stop researching your “symptoms” and stop visiting sites like these. Again, sounds harsh but it’s the honest truth. Don’t do it. Remove yourself from Dr Google and these forums.
4. Adjust your diet. I found eating healthier and drinking things like camomile tea. Reduce caffeiene intake.
5. Do things that make you happy. This will help take your mind off things.
6. Get to the core of what it is that is actually causing you to be anxious. For me it took 2 years for me to realise that the thing causing me to feel like I was having a stroke, heart attack or cancer, was actually the career path I’d chosen. It wasn’t for me, and my body was doing it’s best to point this out to me. As soon as I’d left the nightmare of a job I had and a shift in career, my symptoms subsided very quickly. I was under so much stress and pressure, but because my head was so wrapped up in all the what if thoughts of my “symptoms”, I couldn’t see things clearly. This is where meditation helps. It gives you clarity. You see things for how they actually are.
I hope these 6 points will help you along your way to full recovery.
Much love!
C