Fear and Anxiety

Have you been affected by fear and anxiety?  For me it was like a domino effect with stress causing anxiety, then panic appears and finally you fear the panic happening again.  Stress over a long time was the trigger for me.

Fear and anxiety are a normal part of life and have evolved on the basis that you adapt in response to threat.  They are closely linked but quite different and you need to deal with them in different ways.  Anxiety is a vague unpleasant emotional state and it often appears to have no basis or direct threat.  Fear is similar except that it has a specific object.

Fear and anxiety are not bad things in themselves when we are in control of our emotions.  Everyone has experienced these emotions in their lives at some time.

Scarey snakes

Examples of Fears | Anxieties

Anxiety can develop when someone feels overwhelmed, or has difficulty reconciling to some situation or event and when they don’t know how to deal with that situation/event.  The anticipation of a situation that makes you anxious can develop into avoidance of that situation which leads into an anxiety disorder like social anxiety or agoraphobia.

Identifying your fears

Keeping a record of things that make you anxious will help you identify situations you may not have been consciously aware were making you uneasy. Make sure to record your thoughts, feelings and actions and not just the object/thing.

What are your fears?

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How to cure yourself of panic and get a normal life.

The following are tips for panic attacks that have worked for me. They include methods that you can use to help yourself to stay in control.

Stay in the present - don’t allow your mind to skip ahead to ‘what might happen if’. Concentrate on what is happening NOW.

Change your thinking and how you react to it. Realize that anxiety is affected by what you are feeling and its not life threatening. You have some control over yourself.

Don’t be self absorbed -join in a conversation, take in what’s going on around you, take a walk and appreciate the beauty around you. Try and concentrate on doing something. Distraction is my greatest ally in combating panic attack. We tend to over analyze our thoughts and negative self talk is our greatest enemy.

Feel good about yourself - don’t belt yourself up, accept who you are. We often feel stupid, failures or not ‘good enough’ but we are really our own worst enemies. If you ask the people closest to you they will not agree with your own self worth.

Breathe normally - I start with holding my breath for the count of 5 then let it out slowly then inhale for 5 counts etc. This stops my over-breathing which most of the time I am not aware I’m doing.

Don’t avoid situations or places that make you feel anxious. Take baby steps towards overcoming this fear e.g if you get anxious being enclosed in a lift, next time you have to take a lift just go one floor, then the next time go two floors and so on. Take your time, take as long as you need with each step along the way until you feel confident to take the next step. Like the tortoise you will get there eventually.

If you have a panic attack, accept what is happening to you, let it flow over you as you know it will fade and you will be ok. This is one of the hardest things to accept but when you do, you don’t have to fear having a panic attack again.

These final tips for panic attacks you can start right now. Cut down on caffeine and sugar in your diet. Try and eat properly, relax and do some exercise as often as you can.

How are you feeling right now. Let me know. Post a comment and tell me your story.

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