Anxiety Prepping

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By Charlotte Underwood

If you live with anxiety, no matter how chronic, you may know just how limiting it can be to enjoying your day to day life.

Sometimes, there may be this burst of motivation. Maybe you make plans with friends, signed up for a class and tried to get that motivation to start a new hobby. It can feel great to feel that productivity, but as the night creeps in and time passes, anxiety can start stirring what good thoughts you did have.

To-do List Panic

You can wake up in the morning, look at your calendar and ‘to-do’ list, and it will leave you in a state of panic. Sometimes, it can be so bad that it causes an actual panic attack and you can’t move, or even cancel the plans, so you’re just sitting there frozen.

It can be frustrating to have this person inside of you who seems to be so excited to see and experience the world. It can make you feel so angry, hurt and stressed over that fact that you are split between the person you are and the person your anxiety wants to be. It’s like a constant contest but you have little power in intervention.

After years of learning and trying to come to some understanding of my mental health, I’ve learned a few things about trying to manage that noisy anxiety and to focus more on what you really want and need. After all, we are not our mental illness and we do not deserve to be limited or defined by it.

1. Keep An Open Dialogue

You shouldn’t ever have to lie about your mental health. If you can feel your mental health dropping, or you know that you just need some time to breathe, it’s ok to talk about it. While you may feel like you may annoy a friend for changing or cancelling plans, if they care about you, they will only appreciate the honestly. So, then you have the option to reschedule or even watch a movie instead of hit the town.

2. Space It Out

Now and again, I’ll go through these stages of accepting every offer out there. I’ll end up with a full calendar and a chunky list of things I need to get done. It can leave me feeling overwhelmed and stressed. As I’ve been digging myself out of relapses in the past, I’ve noticed that I do have the option to space it out. I don’t need to take on so much work and expectations. It’s good to learn your limits and work with what you know you can manage, just make sure you fit in that all-important self-care time.

3. Practice Self Worth

Sometimes, when we are busy trying to help everyone else, we forget to help ourselves. The thing that helps to maintain anxiety is when you remember that you do have worth. You deserve help, love, and support. You have the right to follow your own goals, dreams, and ambitions. As much as you are willing to give advice and support others, you need to do exactly the same for yourself. Don’t ever feel like you are not deserving, because you are.