Anxiety Strikes

I was five years old the first time I experienced a panic attack.  I had seen a fellow student choke at lunch and though all had turned out well, I was in absolute panic that it might happen to me.

Then the thought of choking became a regular anxious thought.  It would return to my mind.  Constantly.  I began to avoid foods I thought would cause me to choke. I started to say “no” to my favorite eats. No spaghetti. No crackers.  No chips.  It was a nightmare.  And I had only just begun elementary school.

Anxiety Grows

Over time different catalysts caused my anxiety and panic attacks. 

Sitting in spaces where I felt confined or trapped.

Performing on stage.

Making presentations.

It wasn’t until my late twenties that I finally shared out loud I suffered from anxiety.  It was another four years before I was willing to acknowledge that I also suffered from panic attacks.  These things are not easy to admit.  Not to yourself and certainly not to others.

I argued internally about why I could not and then later why I should not suffer from such things.

I was a Christian: surely my faith could keep me from such ailments.  I knew this was ridiculous, but I thought my faith was failing me.  I did not apply this flawed reasoning to others, just myself.

Denial 

This should have been a clue to me.  I was way off track.  However, denial is a strong defense and I had been honing the skill from a very early age.  Sharing these things about me is not easy.  I wish they weren’t true.  But, the more I’ve accepted my struggles with anxiety, the easier it has become to talk with others who have helped me find helpful ways to deal with it.

If you or someone you love suffers from anxiety, then you know how debilitating it can be.  Over time I have learned ways to help cope with and manage it.  I have also learned to accept that it will likely will never go away. Somehow this helps me deal with it better.

Faith & Anxiety

Hear this, if you don’t hear anything else from this post.  If you suffer from anxiety it does not, in any way, mean that you don’t have a strong faith or that you have a weak spirit.

Dealing with anxiety is not funny. But you can deal with it in ways that minimize its impact on your life and in ways that inform and guide your spiritual journey.

Also, I want you to know that it is a good and healthy thing to find a counselor and a doctor to talk with about your anxiety.  Medicine can be an enormous gift for dealing with the real life struggle of anxiety and panic attacks along with therapy and spiritual direction.

I pray that the tactics I’ve learned for managing my own anxiety will be a blessing to you and your loved ones.  Let me know how these strategies work for you!

4 Strategies for Dealing with Anxiety:

1.) Exercise:  Physical exertion lowers the biochemicals that increase anxiety and panic attacks and increases the neurochemicals that give you a sense of joy and satisfaction.  Find a regular form of exercise that is aerobic.  Physical relaxation practices such as Tai Chi and Yoga have also been shown to decrease panic attacks and anxiety.  I have found that adding these gentle embodiment exercises are extremely effective at helping destress my mind and manage my anxiety triggers.

2.) Identify & Manage your Triggers:  It’s helpful to keep a daily log recording your level of anxiety for the day and how many, if any, panic attacks you had.  In the log, record the moments that you felt most anxious and what you were doing just before and during any panic attacks that occurred.  Over time you will most likely be able to identify a pattern and recognize triggers that increase anxiety or serve as an impetus for panic attacks.  You can’t always avoid your anxiety triggers but once you become aware of them you can better manage them.

For example: If you know that attending a board meeting is often a time in which your anxiety increases but you have to go for work, then intentionally go for a walk or exercise before hand to help reduce your body’s chemicals that foster anxiety.

3.) Go to Your Happy Place: Identify 2-3 of your happiest moments that never fail to make you smile.  Meditate on them when you sense your anxiety levels increasing and close your eyes and picture them when you’re in the midst of a panic attack.

Helpful Tip:  You can increase your mental imagery by putting pictures from those happiest moments around you and in the environments that you find stress you the most.

4.) Express Your Experience: After an anxious day or a panic attack find time to express your experience.  It might seem counterintuitive to do anything that would cause you to relive your anxiety or panic but learning to own the fear and not run from it can foster a greater sense of empowerment over anxiety.  You can write about the anxiety or panic attack in a journal, draw it in a notebook, or make a table labyrinth (here’s how) that tells about the experience.  I’ve also found that having a counselor to work with is an invaluable aid to expressing my experience and gaining perspective on it.

Application

( Not sure which “L” you are?  Check this out)

L1: Identify 1 strategy from the  “Dealing with Anxiety” list and try it out.

L2: Identify 2 strategies from the “Dealing with Anxiety” list and try them out.

L3: Identify someone in your life, who is suffering with anxiety and share these strategies with them.

May the Road Rise Up to Meet Y’all!

Rev.Wren