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Anxiety

So I go through anxiety and I anticipate the future.. it is so crippling. Should I avoid the things that make me feel anxious? Embrace them? How should I go about the things that I fear and make me feel uncomfortable. Searching for insight

Raythelastjedi 4 Feb 28
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I think you need to deal with your anxiety in what ever way works for you. I have suffered from anxiety since my twenties and now in my sixties, it rears it's ugly head whenever I think I'm over it. I've tried many natural supplements (my son works for Whole Foods) and every single thing has the opposite effect on me and actually speeds up my heart rate. This is not a good thing for someone in the midst of an anxiety attack! Yes, I do meditation and yoga. My doctor prescribes just enough (of the lowest dose) Xanax to help me sleep at night. If I have an anxiety attack during the day, I'm screwed. I have learned that anxiety can take many forms. It can stem from my childhood when I was sometimes jerked out of bed by the hair of my head and beat, or it can be fear of the future, being alone and living on social security...you pick!

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I use meditation and DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) to help deal with anxiety. It's also about understanding that anxiety is a part of life, it can't be eliminated but it can be managed.

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I've read that CBD oil relieves anxiety and elevates the mood, while also being legal most places. Also, cannabis oil, which is stronger, but small amounts taken often work well.

Early morning outdoor walks in the sun to reset the thyroid, and if you let your mind drift it's said to be as effective as meditation, being out in nature, having a loving pet, eating fish, taking St. Johns' Wort, derris scandens, 5-htp, magnesium a few drops of iodine in water, etc. all have calming effects also.

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Don't put things off, it builds up the things you are anxious about, deal with them and they are gone.

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just do yourself a favor and never never NEVER take an SSRI !!!!

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I think it's good to avoid things that aren't necessary and cause lots of anxiety, but there are other things (from personal experience) that I feel anxiety for initially but then decide to do it and get there and the anxiety gradually fades away rather quickly (like meeting new people). If you're the same maybe find out which is which and do things accordingly.

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You can neither control or influence the future by worrying about it! Letting that knowledge seep in will set you free!

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Yoga helped me tremendously. Your breathing ties into how stressed you are feeling. If you breath by moving your belly in and out rather than lifting your shoulders - it's way better for you.

Also if you recognize you are starting to panic - breathing in a controlled fashion can help your body to calm down. (ie there is no Saber Toothed Tiger chasing you).

Also counseling. Anxiety can be medical and psychological. I come from a family of anxious people. I still don't know if it's poor coping skills or genetic differences in our chemistry. But the coping is just the same. (I do suspect biology because everyone get hit with the anxiety stick).

I also avoid news programs because the state of the world is really getting to me - and I can't change it. I don't entirely avoid news - but I don't watch an hour of it a day either.

I have friends and family who are aware of this and will notify me if something I should know about happens.

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Well...what I can say for sure is, if you try and avoid these feelings, you will surely cripple yourself further! First of all, you may be anxious about something specific so ask yourself what that is? Then challenge your assumptions...are they realistic? Or, are you trying to hard so as not to make a mistake? No one must be perfect and trying to do so is unrealistic! Next, make sure you are getting enough natural sunlight! Be out in nature all that you can. I myself, noticed that lately I am showing more anxiety. And we have had more cloudy days. I am in the mist of a major move and sorting out all this stuff, is causing all kinds of things to come up! What to keep, what to toss and watch out to not toss...things i will need later? And, what about throwing out things attached to my heart strings? In other words, don't screw up! I just ran an errand and it's raining and dark here at noon time and when i picked up my (heavy) purse, it ticked me off! As I walked down the Isle of a store, I felt anxious! I feel fine back here in my own space, so that tells me that I must slow down and be patient with my self. I am not up to par! I will step up my excerise as that will help, too! Best of luck and I would look your anxiety square in the 'face' and remind 'it'...that you have it's back!

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If you can avoid what makes you anxious then avoid it, if not try and find out what exactly it is about the 'thing' that makes you anxious and try and break it down into something more managible. As another answer suggests, coping skills and mechanisms may help

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Coping skills. Find coping skills. Have you tried medicine? I have horrible anxiety but I'm finding the more I force myself into it, the easier it gets.

I've tried medicine and I felt like I was psyching myself out even more. I'll find coping skills

@Raythelastjedi try meditation, deep breathing exercises, a fidget cube, I carry around a swatch of fabric that's texture really calms me when I run it through my fingers. I also put on some music that is specifically made to play at a certain frequency to signal the brain to release less anxiety and more dopamine I think. They really work, too, though you'd think they wouldn't. Anyway I hope you find something that helps because anxiety is just awful especially when it starts hindering your functioning.

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You got to learn to live with it and make go to the back of your mind. maybe you need a bit of professional guidance and it's quite a long road but it's possible because I'm still here. you got to stop the stimulants if you are taking any too.

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What @SimonMorgan1 said. That, and tapping. Find a life coach nearby that teaches those things... one or two sessions should get you going. Highly recommended.

Okay thank you for the help I'll look into it!

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Depends on a bunch of things, but the general concept is that anxiety is holding onto regrets about the past and worries about the future when in fact even to the extent those things are actionable, worry is no help at all.

Please read the above paragraph a few times and let it sink in. How is worry helping you? Come on, admit it -- it's not helping AT ALL.

This is the basis of "mindfulness" or secular mediation, and similar. It forces you into the present moment and detaches you from the past and the future. Unfortunately, while this can provide a place of mental refuge, you can't sustain it while holding down a job and generally functioning with Other People. It's just a way to (1) get away from the mental pressure and (2) train yourself out of some bad thought habits. But it's a start. It tends to have good knock-on effects even when your ego is (necessarily) engaged in daily living.

The other thing is to recognize that suffering comes from attachment to particular outcomes. In your case, attachment to desired future outcomes and the fear of them not happening, I suspect. And then to train yourself to knock that off.

As to avoiding or not the things that give you anxiety ... that may or may not be practical. Also it tends to mis-identify association with cause. Say you're afraid of having an accident so you avoid driving a car. This isn't caused by the possibility of an accident, or by driving, it's caused by a mis-placed attention to a remote possibility of an accident, by assigning way too much importance to it and the misbelief that you have way more control over it than you actually do.

The above is borrowed / adapted into a secular context from Buddhism, it is basically Buddhism without the religious cruft. Ancient Buddhism is the original self-help methodology, and it holds up well in the modern world. Even religious Buddhism (or most denominations of it anyway) are godless to begin with, so it's a surprisingly good source of wisdom about worry / fear / depression.

I am also currently reading an excellent book about depression and anxiety that strikes me as a good way to evaluate the REAL sources of those maladies and think of creative ways to change up your life so that you can shake loose from them without primary reliance on pharmacology. That book is called "Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression -- And the Unexpected Solutions", by Johan Hari. Mind you the title speaks about depression but there's a super-strong correlation between depression and anxiety, they are really just two manifestations of / responses to the same thing. Lots of science cited in this book, so I like it alot, it is not just self help woo.

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I've been told to look up mindfulness , I'm only halfway through a book on it so can't really tell you if it works or not

I'll give it a look out thank you for the help!

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