You have achieved it: after a lot of effort you have become the person who causes you the most anxiety, does the most damage to you and, unfortunately, you end up radiating that negativity on others.
“Not even your worst enemy can hurt you as much as your own thoughts.” Buddha
We are exposed to continuous comparison, and that generates a lot of anxiety.. Furthermore, if we add to that the fact that we must endure the daily bombardment of bad news, the whole thing makes us create a cocktail that, if poorly controlled, can have very bad consequences on our mind, which will be translated into poor sleep, stomach pain, bad mood, headache or tiredness.
On this occasion I have brought a series of tips that I would like you to take into account when facing your anxiety attacks, or if you have already experienced one, use them as a reflection so you know how to deal with them better. These are keys that I have learned from my clinical practice and from seeing different patients who, like you, have suffered from this and have been overwhelmed by this problem.
1. Don’t try to learn not to get anxious, but rather to know how to channel it.
Don’t you realize that if I tell you not to think about a green dog, you will think about it more? Well The same thing happens if we go all day with the idea in mind of not having anxiety: you will carry it between your eyebrows all day long..
We have to change “control” for “management”, and I want you to listen to me on that. It is impossible to eliminate an emotion such as anxiety or fear, but we can know how to manage it so that it does not create more feelings of anguish.
2. You can be afraid and be in place
Panic doesn’t have to decide that we leave. This often makes you set your pace of life and is very negative. If, for example, you go out to the mountains for a walk with a friend and you suffer a panic attack, try to stay there, that will make you gain security and feel more capable in the face of future attacks. Panic, don’t you think?
3. Don’t focus your life on preventing things from happening to you, but on focusing on where you want to go
This way you can prepare yourself to solve any situation. Get rid of the obsessive idea from your mind of “this can’t happen to me again” and as a result create a life stuck to not going to certain places so as not to fall into it. We cannot make anxiety our lifestyleand it’s important to know.
It cannot control you, nor can you go worshiping it all day.
5. Give real meaning to the experience
“I almost died”: that’s what your mind thought was going to happen. It was not death you looked at, but the fear of that death.
6. You have the right to be afraid or anxious, but fear or anxiety is an emotion and not a truth.
Therefore, accept your emotions. It is normal to feel scared, and it will help you reduce your anxiety.
7. Panic works by association
Be very careful with this; If for example, as we have seen before, you had a panic attack going up the mountain to look for mushrooms, you are going to involuntarily avoid going to the mountain to look for mushrooms, have you noticed? Well, this is totally negative and hurts you a lot. You have to abandon the obsessive idea that having anxiety and being anxious are incompatible, and it is totally false. Don’t believe that you can only live without anxiety, you can have anxiety and be there. You have to endure, and even if it is sometimes bitter, stay there.
8. Never stop working on your breathing
It is important. I am not asking you to do meditation, I am simply asking you to know how to breathe with your belly and expel with your chest.. If you want to know this better, look up information on diaphragmatic breathing.
9. Focus on the here and now
Stop living in last month when it gave you the last episode, and stop thinking that tomorrow doing X thing will give you the next one. Focus on the present moment and the tools to solve this.
As you can see, I’m not going to deceive you, this is just the beginning and some basic notions that you can apply to your anxiety attacks. I am by no means seeking to solve such a serious problem for you with these nine pillars, but yes make you reflect and sow the seed of change. I ask you to read them and be consistent, and above all, to apply them in your daily life.
I also want to encourage you to pay attention to the points that I have shown you and use them as inspiration to develop your psychological tools.
Lastly, tell you that Don’t feel bad about asking a specialist for help.since this is a more common problem than you think, and the sooner you ask for help, the sooner we will solve it.
Anxiety problems? Do I help you
If you are interested in improving your life and reducing your anxiety with professional help, do not hesitate to contact me. We will be able to start the sessions without leaving home and with a price appropriate to the current times.
My name is Javier Ares, I am a General Health Psychologist and among my specialties I offer psychological treatment in cases of anxiety. My contact details are available here, and I invite you to follow me on my Instagram and my YouTube channel.
