3 tips on handling anxiety and spotting the signs

I recorded a quick video on a couple of coping tactics to deal with anxiety, but I thought it would be good to just take a moment to explain what it feels like. This is based on my experience, so it may be different for others, but with luck this may help.

First and foremost there is a sense of panic, that something is terribly wrong, but you can’t explain what it is. At first you don’t notice it, but you find yourself moving a bit faster, with a sense of urgency that was not there before. If you are eating, you start to eat faster. If you are going somewhere, you move faster. There is a fight or flight kind of response. Your pulse quickens and you feel afraid, ready to run away at any second.

If you can’t get a grip on the feelings, they take hold and can eventually make you freeze in terror, unable to move. You may suddenly find that you are incapable of getting out of the car for an unexplained reason. You may find that the party you were meant to be going to fills you with dread, worry setting in days before, eventually becoming sheer terror.

The following video has those tips I mentioned. They are

1. Get help! Talk to a doctor, talk to friends, seek help. You can’t get through it on your own, as much as you may think you can.
2. Worry less about things you can’t control or change. It will drive you insane.
3. Focus on short term, achievable goals. Live a little more in the now, rather than focusing all your energy on the future.

I offer this as insights from someone who has lived with depression and anxiety and who, with the support of friends, family and the medical profession now has way way way more good days than bad, and the bad days are much much much less significant!