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Belongs to: Can you relate to zach s struggles with anxiety sh
My anxiety is social and usually don’t know what to say or do in front of people. Something I have always struggled with since being a kid. I never knew this was an anxiety issue until recently. The internal dialogue in my head is crazy. I could easily become addicted to drinking if I let myself because the internal anxiety goes away and I feel like what a normal person. I don’t though I just try and struggle through it.
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Hi there. Thanks for posting and sharing about your struggle with anxiety. Yeah, anxiety is a beast. It hits us all to varying degrees and for those of us that experience it frequently and intensely it can be especially brutal. Like you say, that inner voice is often on overdrive just relentlessly droning on about everything. It can be exhausting and I totally understand the impulse to want to shut it up, any way possible. And with so much going on in the world there’s no shortage of things to be anxious about. I mean it seems normal to me that we all have ample things to worry about. But I know what you mean, just having a moment where you can enjoy something is a relief when you can get it.
I made the mistake of trying to find peace through alcohol and realized just how ineffective my self medicating approach was when the anxiety would come quicker and quicker requiring more and more alcohol. So I applaud you avoiding that trap. That shows strong resolve. I’m sure just struggling through it can still be so demanding at times. Music can be a great distraction too. Finding solutions that can be healthy, balancing and accessible is so important for all of us but especially for those minds that are attuned to anxiety.
I started building a “tool belt” of things that I could use when things got bad. For me meditation and cold exposure have been life saving. I mean it hasn’t been a quick fix but I’ve noticed that since I’ve been more regularly meditating, developing a practice of doing it daily, it really seems like my mind now can pull out of anxious states with less manual effort on my part. Just taking like 15 minutes focusing on my breathing, and extending my exhale longer than my inhale has been fantastic at rewiring my anxiety response to settle down much faster. I’ve found that even when I was having panic attacks being able to walk away from the situation I was in (which was, in one example, just a busy restaurant), go outside and do my meditation actually did settle me down to where I could go back in and be okay.
Again, I’m impressed with your decision to steer away from temporary fixes and with the courage to reach out and share this part of you. I hope you continue to find approaches to dealing with those intrusive thoughts that give you peace in ways that like my meditation you can use going forward that make your mind healthier and happier. Thanks again for sharing.