I had writing this in mind for months, but actually writing it now I’m finding it much harder than writing fashion posts. In this post you won’t find what triggers, causes or cures anxiety; all I can do is prove to you that no matter how bad it gets it’s always going to get better.
If you met me now you wouldn’t probably believe me that 3 years ago I would have a panic attack and feel sick to my guts before making a phone call; or doing anything that for other people was just normal everyday routine.
No one that hasn’t experienced this won’t understand what it’s like so please if your friend is too anxious to ask for help in the shop then please do it for them. People say ‘just stop stressing’ but anxiety is so much more than just stress. We all experience stress at some point in our life’s and it’s normal but being anxious about making conversation with a new person and straight away assuming that the newly met person won’t like you isn’t.
With anxiety like with every other illness there are better and worse days, some days you’ll feel as if you can conquer the world and that nothing can stop you and other days you feel like you never want to make any human interaction ever again; please please remember that how you feel on your worst days is just temporary even if at that moment it feels like you’ll never get better but I can promise you that it gets better sometimes it takes months and sometimes it takes years but it will get better.
If I was going to say any advice from my experience it would be to get out of your comfort zone in small steps. Pick up that phone and call your friend first, ask that shop assistant for help because there is a 99% chance that they’ll be happy to help, go to that social event and even if you hate it at first; afterwards you’ll feel good about yourself and next time doing all of these actions will become that little bit easier. A big step for me was getting a job in retail not only I had to interact with new people on daily basis but I also had to approach them and start the conversation first.. what the hell right?! Gradually over time it got easier and I used my newly gained confidence in other aspects of my life. Another important thing is having supportive people in your life who accept you how you are which can help to build up your self-worth and confidence in yourself.
Going back to anxiety here are some tips to keep your anxiety and panic attacks more under control:
- talking to someone you trust (if you don’t have anyone to talk to or you would prefer to talk to a professional you can always call the Mind Infoline at 0300 123 3393)
- doing some breathing excercies
- listening to some music
- doing some physical excercise
- keeping a diary; take a note everytime you do something that makes you proud of yourself it can even be little things and on worse days go back to it to prove to yourself that you are capable of doing it again
- eating healthy
- joining a support group
