Hi there!
How’s your anxiety level? No matter how peaceful your life might be, there’s no doubt you are facing some anxiety. And how can you not? With the rising costs for housing and groceries, increasing acts of violence, and new diseases every time you turn around, just reading the news headlines can make you want to crawl back in bed to hide under your blankets.
Anxiety is tough, but it doesn’t have to control your life. This week, we’re going to look at helpful ways to reduce and cope with anxiety.
Anxiety and me
I found out I had bipolar disorder 30 years ago. The most difficult symptom, the one I am unable to beat, is anxiety. I know mania and depression come in cycles, but anxiety sticks around every day. It also seems to get worse with age, at least in my experience.
We’re going to focus on DIY ways to cope with anxiety, but it’s essential to remember that you may need professional help to cope with your anxiety. Whether medication or therapy, anxiety can be a foe too tough to battle on your own.
Lord knows, I couldn’t drive most days (or even leave my house) without the help of anxiety medication. As I’ve learned to manage my anxiety, I need less medication, but it’s still something I carry with me always.
Let’s start by looking at a few types of anxiety.
Types of anxiety
Anxiety seems like a simple word, but it encompasses so much. There are many types of anxiety, and each one can present its own challenges.
Everyday anxiety
Everyday anxiety can pop up in your daily routine. Losing your keys, waking up late, or spilling coffee on your pants on your way to work can all trigger anxiety. Everyday anxieties also include worrying about finances, relationships, or work performance.
Social anxiety
This type of anxiety revolves around doing things with other people. It doesn’t matter if it’s in person or on a web meeting, social anxiety can overwhelm your senses, making you want to retreat to a place of safety.
Health anxiety
Worries about your general health or new symptoms are examples of health anxieties. For those with mental illnesses, there’s also the fear that medications will stop working or that you won’t have access to the treatments you need.
Trauma and loss
Traumatic events and the death of a loved one are common sources of anxiety. Trauma can also trigger PTSD, which could be described as its own type of anxiety.
Anxiety disorders
Panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, and dozens of other mental illnesses can cause or amplify anxiety. While the coping methods we’ll discuss this week will help with all types of anxiety, this is our primary target.
Bipolar thinking can make you ruminate all night, causing anxiety, make you afraid to leave the house, or even cause paranoia, the belief that someone (or everyone) is out to get you.
Mental illness anxiety is the toughest to manage because it doesn’t always have a trigger.
Panic attacks
Panic attacks are the worst type of anxiety. Not only do you feel like the world is ending, you know that you’re also dying. Gasping for air, you expect to suffocate at any moment. Your vision can go white and your legs stop working.
It can be a beautiful, sunny day. You may be relaxing with a cold lemonade, watching butterflies dance over swaying daisies, when your mind suddenly shifts into panic mode. It’s like being possessed, or at least what I imagine possession must feel like. Like Chicken Little, you know the sky is falling no matter what anyone else says.
Let me tell you how my first panic attack went.
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My introduction to panic attacks
My first panic attack happened when I was going out with friends. A group of us were in a car together, driving to the nearest city for dinner. I was in the back seat with two others, all of us laughing and singing along to songs on the radio.
The anxiety crept up slowly at first. Like a whisper in the back of your mind telling you that you forgot something, I couldn’t shake the feeling something was wrong. My brain often played the worst-case-scenario game (and still does), so I wasn’t too concerned until we reached our destination.
Everyone else jumped from the car and hurried into the restaurant while the driver and I stayed behind. I opened my door but then couldn’t move. I felt like I was standing on the edge of a sky-high cliff and someone was pushing me closer to the edge.
“You okay?” Margaret asked while swinging the driver’s side car door shut.
“I…,” but it was the only word I could get out. My lungs refused to move, neither letting air in or out. My chest seized as my heart sped up to racecar speed.
I looked up at Margaret, the panic sweat already beading on my face, and watched her fade into a bright light. I fell from the car and lay in the fetal position near the back tire.
Fortunately for me, Margaret knew a panic attack when she saw one. She kept a hand on my chest, telling me to breathe.
“It’s going to be okay,” she kept saying in a soft, calming voice.
The worst of it lasted less than 15 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. When I felt like I could breathe again and my vision was returning to normal, Margaret helped me up so I could sit on the car seat.
“It’s just anxiety,” Margaret told me. I wanted to believe her, but my mind was screaming that it was something much worse. I was sure my life was ending.
The fear sticks with you
After a few more minutes, I stood up, brushed the parking lot grime off my pants, and told Margaret I was ready to go in to dinner. I put a smile on my face and pretended I was fine, but my mind was frozen in the parking lot. For days after, I obsessed over the event and what if it happened again.
That horrible episode was decades ago and only the start of a string of panic attacks, but I survived each one. In time, I learned to name anxiety for what it was, to look it in the face and say, “I’m not going to let you stop me.”
You can do the same. Whether you’ve been fighting anxiety for years or just had your first panic attack, this is not the end. The first step is to identify the problem and face it head on. We’ll dive into how in tomorrow’s post.
Monday’s Journal Prompt: Describe a recent situation where you felt a wave of anxiety. What thoughts or feelings did you notice? How did you respond, and what could you do differently next time to approach it with a more positive or humorous outlook?
Until next time, keep fighting.
Scott Ninneman
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Scott Ninneman is the author of Speaking Bipolar’s 30 Days of Positivity and the writer behind SpeakingBipolar.com. Living in the mountains of southeast Tennessee, he spends his days crunching numbers as a tax preparer and his nights caring for his mother and writing stories about bipolar life. (And he loves pandas.)
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