Anxiety!

amznad

Hi everyone! I’ve been experiencing a cycle of anxiety. It’s like I almost have anxiety about anxiety! I‘m currently experiencing bad brain fog, confusion, memory problems etc which I’ve been told are all effects of heightened anxiety and this worries me a lot more! My brain is constantly in overdrive about it, makes me think there’s something wrong with me, that it will never go away and I’ll be stuck like this which in turn puts me in a bad state and low mood. Does anybody have any ideas of how to get yourself out of the cycle of anxiety? And what worked for you guys?

coc0mac

Hello @amznad! Welcome to the boards

Honestly, a few months ago I could have written this exact post myself - I felt EXACTLY this way! So I totally understand

Okay so I think one of the most important things to remember is that what helps one person may not help another in the same way (or, of course, it may well do ) and that's okay. If you need to try a few different things until you begin to feel better and like there is a way out of the cycle then that's totally okay - try to be patient with yourself and remain hopeful that things can get better. Yes I am still on a journey with my anxiety, but I am absolutely in a better place than I was a few months back so you truly can get out of this cycle!

So one of the things that helped me was talking to somebody, so you made a great choice by reaching out here. I wanted 1-1 support so I spoke to an online counsellor. You can speak to a counsellor online with The Mix here or they also have bunch of other support services which may be worth taking a look at. We worked a lot on finding the root of my anxiety, so I would check in with myself whenever I felt particularly anxious or if I had had a panic attack and would truly look at the circumstances of that day to find patterns and learnt how to make changes from there. For me writing things down or talking about them really helped, also guided Yoga  (lots on YouTube) as it helps you to guide your thoughts so rather than feeling overwhelmed with anxiety, I was beginning to break it down a little 

I also experienced the brain fog and being forgetful. I was at uni so I would write down a whole plan of my day the night before so I knew what I had to do tomorrow, I'd write it on post it notes, I would text my mum or a friend every morning telling them like oh I need to do this today that today etc, basically the more I wrote things and took the time to reflect at night that helped. I understand those symptoms can feel anxiety inducing in themselves, but try your best to focus on the knowledge that things truly can get better and you won't feel this way forever - it will all be okay and you can overcome it

Take good care! x