Anxiety

@Thunder

seems sometimes anxiety is telling us things we need to know… so maybe not always to be dismissed

and other times graduated safe exposure can help us learn to cope

eg… for me… performance anxiety was huge… but then I had 8 years of weekly performances so I kinda got used to it

it depends on the situation and the person

welcome to the forum

apple

Hello @Thunder . Managing anxiety can vary from person to person. Distractions can help, breathing exercises, grounding techniques. It's a matter of finding what works for you. For me i run on distractions, so i listen to music, do some colouring in, watch a TV show or movie. Breathing exercises can be very helpful to slow down your breathing and heart rate. Grounding techniques can keep you in the present moment and reminding yourself that you are safe and that the moment will pass can help.

@Appleblossom yeah it definitely does try to tell us something sometimes, it can be our intuition warning us. There was one time I was going to see my ex and my whole body was filled with anxiety but it was totally different to anything I'd ever felt before, even my legs had these purple blotches. I didn't know what to do but yeah it ended up being a really bad idea, I won't ignore something like that again

Hey @Thunder

How are you going today?

It's so interesting talking about anxiety and intuition. It can be so hard to tell the two apart sometimes, like is this something I need to listen to or is it just my nervous system going into overdrive again and thinking everything is a threat?

For me the things that help the most when I'm feeling anxious are doing breathing exercises, trying to change my environment - like if I've spent the whole day stewing in bed then I try to sit in my little garden or even just move to the lounge room, I try to move my body whether that's going for a short walk, or following a yoga video on youtube, or doing something more intense if I can manage it to really get out of my head. I also try to accept my anxious thoughts and feelings and acknowledge that they might not go completely even if I do all my tools, but that I can manage that.

OH and I try to stay off my phone as much as I can, even though when I'm anxious that's all I seem to want to do

@Ru-bee hi, I'm still riddled with anxiety.

I do try and find distractions like a movie, housework. I would love to be able to go for a walk when I need to but I also have social anxiety 😕 I've also got perimenopause, pcos and diabetes so it's really hard trying to look after my mental and physical health all at the same time :face_with_rolling_eyes:

@Ru-bee oh and I always turn to social media too much