Unfortunately, I'm one of those, I suffer with really bad anxiety, mostly social anxiety, my life changed since I finally got diagnosed with it when I was 14. I have always been a shy person so when I first had feelings of being anxious I just put it down to being a shy person and getting nervous easily. In about year nine at high school, I just stopped going to school, I physically couldn't get myself into the building, I would sit outside the school in the car with my mum and I would just start to shake, feel very sick, sweat and panic, I had no idea this was anxiety at this point, neither did my mum. Because of this, some days she would just shout at me to get out of the car, threaten to get the headteacher to come out, but some days she would be nice and supportive. Some days I would make it into school but I didn't go to lessons, I went to a little room called The Base, which was basically a safe place in the school for other people like me & people with disabilities. Because of my anxiety, I barely ate anything, I thought that if I ate something then had to go out, I'd be sick, I was scared of being sick, especially in public.
I finally got to see a councilor about my anxiety and that's when I got properly diagnosed. I had some sessions but the woman I had really wasn't nice to me but did help. After that I had about 10 months of a good patch at school, I could get into school, I went to most of my lessons, and I thought I was doing pretty well. When May 2014 came, I was taking my Year 11 GCSEs, this is when it all started again up until now, and it's worse than ever. :( I have had to drop out of college because of anxiety and I don't really know when I'll be any better to go back yet. But in the mean time, I'm building up confidence, trying to get out more, doing things on my own. I'm currently on another waiting list for some more sessions of CBT(Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. I'm going to list a few tips down below about helps me and what could also help others suffering with this awful illness.
TIPS
- Wherever I go, I always take a bottle of water with me, whether it's a day out, or just walking my dog, I never know when anxiety can flare up. Water helps to clear the throat when the throat can go dry and dumb.
- Take small steps at a time, don't try jumping straight into something you're not ready to do.
- Focus on whats happening at the exact moment, don't think of what could happen in the future, focus on yourself right now.
- Take deep breaths, breathe in, hold, breathe out.
- Think positive thoughts, what's the worst thing what could happen?
- Talk about it, don't keep it bottled up inside, talk to somebody about how you're feeling.
- Treat yourself, when you've done well.
- Expose yourself to what you're scared of, hiding from the fear can only make it scarier, not easier.
- Do something to take your mind of it, which helps me is just messing around on my phone, such as playing a game.
- Listen to your favourite music.
- BE POSITIVE, DON'T GIVE UP ON YOURSELF!!
If you're not sure if you're experiencing signs of anxiety, here is a list of symptoms what can anxiety can cause:
- Nausea
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Feeling dizzy/faint
- Hot flushes or chills
- Shortness of breath
- Pounding heart
- Bad thoughts
Remember, you're not alone, you're not the only one who feels the way you do, you may feel like nobody understands or you can never better, because you CAN! If you ever need anybody to talk to, you can always drop me a message, I have links to my social medias on my blog.
Stay positive everyone, this is a very personal topic for me to talk about.
Sophie xxx
