Understanding Anxiety

 Anxiety is a feeling of unease that can last a short period of time or a long period of time. It can cause many problems for people who suffer from anxiety. Generalised anxiety disorder is estimated to affect almost 5% of the population in the UK. As well as this, it is believed that most people who will suffer from anxiety in their life tend to show symptoms of anxiety before they turn 21 years old. This means there are people who haven’t even experienced life properly yet and are being bullied by their own brains.

This illness has run through my body for years, it’s been there in the happiest times and the darkest times. It makes you feel even worse even when you thought it was not possible anymore. Anxiety is the most isolating thing to live with. It’s a constant battle that you have to face even when you feel like you’ve had enough.

Anxiety is the most draining thing to live with. It’s always there, even when you’re trying to relax. Over the past few years of dealing with my anxiety, I found the more you give in to the anxiety the worse it becomes. This is because I let it take control of me when I really shouldn’t have. Over the past year it had become worse, but then I came to a realisation – it was time to take my life back. It hasn’t been easy-it’s a really tough battle. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel – remember that.

Anxiety has caused me to isolate myself from people all throughout my life and it’s so hard because I want to socialise. Instead, my anxiety forces me into a hole, devoid of anything but my own rumbling thoughts.

Anxiety causes many problems because it wants you all to itself, and that’s why it’s so hard to manage it – because whenever you even try to take back control- well, it doesn’t like being told what to do.

Every day I wake up and I want to go back to bed because it’s the closest I get to brushing the problem away, but sleep is a short term solution. The better solution is to face the challenges and push yourself- and believe me, I know how hard it is. I’ve been battling it for over five years now.

Every day brings another challenge, but remember  – life gives you challenges that it knows you can overcome. Most importantly, however, remember to congratulate yourself on the small steps and the little things you do, because it will help massively with the bigger steps you are going to take.

Recommended Reading: Men’s Mental Health in Numbers 

Techniques

Tackling the issue of anxiety is really hard, and getting the motivation to do it is even harder. Motivation is a hard thing to find when dealing with any sort of mental health issue, but I find motivation in knowing that everything will pass eventually – even when it feels impossible. And when I am feeling really anxious, techniques such as the breathing technique help. This involves breathing in for 5 seconds, holding it for 5 seconds, and then breathing out for five seconds.

And another really effective technique is the grounding technique;  this involves thinking of five things you can see around you, 4 things you can touch around you, 3 things you hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. Every technique takes practice for it to help you, but if you stick with it you will feel a difference. You may not feel any difference at first but after a while of using the technique, it will help in many ways with managing anxiety.

Yes, life is tough, but you’re tougher than life..