This is going to be the second part of my panic attacks, anxiety and depression 'talk'
Panic attacks, anxiety and depression until recently has never been spoken about that much but however has always been very common amongst us humans! I myself have suffered and still suffer from this and feel that if I tell you about my experiences it may help help some of you and even if it only helps one of you that will make me feel happy!
Anxiety
What is a anxiety?
Anxiety is experienced by everyone often during their lifetime. You may feel feelings of anxiety before a job interview, driving test or exams. It is very normal to feel anxious during times like these.
However some of us find it difficult to control those feelings of anxiety and worry and experience it more often sometimes to a degree where it affects daily life.
Psychological Symptoms
> Restlessness
> A sense of dread
> Feeling 'on edge'
> Difficulty concentrating
> Irritability
Physical Symptoms
> Dizziness
> Tiredness
> Fast heartbeat
> Muscles aches and tension
> Trembling or shaking
> Shortness of breath
> Feeling sick
> Headache
> Difficulty sleeping
What causes anxiety?
Some people may have a way of thinking that leads to experiencing anxiety for example thinking of the worst possible thing that could happen in a situation or thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. This means you may find it hard to relax as you feel like you always have to find a solution for the problem.
Others develop anxiety following stressful life events for example work, financial difficulties or relationship problems.
Anxiety is natural due to evolution. For example if you know about the 'fight or flight' response you'll know that it's your body's way of protecting us in certain situations.
MY STORY
As I mentioned before, pin-pointing the time where my anxiety started becoming a problem was quite difficult but I believe it to be after my A levels at Sixth form. For those of you that aren't from England our education system goes - primary school, high school and then you have the option to do Sixth form at a school or go to college and then progress to university if you wish.
Things before sixth form were good, I stressed out a little, the same as every other person and I was really proud of myself when I good really good grades for my GCSEs and so I decided to stay onto Sixth Form and do the subjects Psychology, Sociology and Biology. In my GCSEs I was really good at Sociology and Biology and looked at these as my strengths and wanted to continue with them.
The first year of Sixth form before exams was good and I studied really hard for my exams. I started revising probably 4 months before exams a few days a week building up to everyday for hours before my exams. No I'm not a goody-goody I just like to know that I've tried my best no matter what happens. I was confident going into my exams and confident coming out of them thinking I'd done really well as I left few questions blank.
However when results day came for the first year things started taking a turn for the worst. I got quite bad grades. I got an Ungraded for my Biology exam which shocked me as I was getting Bs and Cs in high school. I got an E in Psychology and Managed to scrape a C in Sociology.
I was so upset I felt like I didn't know what to do and that I had put so much effort into my exams and studied so hard but got knocked back with my rubbish grades.
I remember thinking that I'd wasted so many days saying no to going out with friends, time I could have spent doing fun things on studying for exams that I basically failed. What's the point right?
As the second year of Sixth Form's exams started my attitude completely changed. I thought to myself that I'm not going to study even anywhere near as much as I did before because I'm just going to get crap grades anyways and I would much rather be out with my friends who never studied. This wasn't a good attitude to have now I look back but in the moment I was trying to stop myself having more stress than needed.
Anyways... long story short, I got rubbish grades in Sixth Form and in the end decided to go to college to do Beauty Therapy which is what I wanted to do in the first place.
Ever since then my stress levels and anxiety have been through the roof even with the slightest things. I stress over stupid things but then stress over major things 100 times more than other people.
The things I stress about include money, deadlines even if they're nowhere near and just silly things that really don't need to be worried about!
The best way I've found to help calm and control my anxiety is to try and analyse if something is really worth stressing over. If it's money think of ways to help the situation ie. budget more or think of ways you can save! If it's deadlines then plan ahead, that way you can put your mind at ease so you don't freak out as the deadline approaches!
Having a positive mind set about things also helps! I used to think negatively about everything and I thought to myself lets not put a negative spin on anything but even if a situation is bad try to think of the positives.
Thinking more positively has helped me a huge amount! Even if I can't be bothered to wake up in the morning I force myself to be in a good mood and I can trick my mind into putting me in a good mood for the day. It may sound stupid but if you stick to it it really works!
I really do hope that this post has helped some of you even if it has just given you some information on the condition or a better understanding. Please leave your comments below and tell me your story and if this has helped you in any way.
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