My Brief Guide to Anxiety
This is a very quick guide to anxiety. I hope that it will be helpful for you.
What is it?
Anxiety - A feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with an uncertain outcome.
Anxiety is something that affects everyone and will come and go depending upon circumstances. When we are worried or afraid we can experience a series of physical symptoms in the body - a rapid heart rate, adrenaline coursing through the veins, dizziness, sweating, nausea and the feeling of unease/general fear are to name a few of the sensations. This is part of human nature and is sometimes referred to as the “fight or flight” response. If a bear suddenly climbed into your house through the window, I’m pretty sure you would experience all of the previously listed symptoms. This is to be expected (no, not the bear climbing through the window). Our body’s reaction is essentially our survival instinct and is something that we should be extremely grateful for. It has allowed us to survive for thousands of years and helped us to successfully navigate the dangers we encountered. Unfortunately, this system can cause us some problems in the modern world.
Feeling apprehensive about an event in the future is perfectly normal and we can sometimes experience these “fight or flight” symptoms in response to small or imagined threats. Most people would experience feelings of anxiety if they were suddenly taken skydiving. Again, this would be a normal reaction. But, when you start experiencing these sensations without an obvious cause or the symptoms become overwhelming, this is what generally gets referred to as an “anxiety” condition and will require you to do something about it. When this happens, you need to develop a way to manage the emotions and sensations you are experiencing. It’s a very common issue but I think a lot of people still aren’t comfortable discussing it with others. Understanding how truly normal and common anxiety is should help you to feel more open about sharing your experience with those close to you.
My Story
Several years ago I found myself in the middle of an American road trip freaking out. Something wasn’t right and I couldn’t explain what was happening to me. At first I genuinely though I was physically ill - I was showing symptoms such as a racing heart, nausea and an underlying sense of dread. The symptoms would come frequently throughout the day and were often exacerbated by any “perceived” danger. I say “perceived” because a lot of the things that caused a sudden burst of adrenaline in my body were only imagined threats. Ironically, we happened to be staying in San Francisco’s “Tenderloin District” at the time, a notoriously rough neighbourhood filled with a mix of drug dealers, drug users and the homeless. It’s safe to say that my adrenaline was through the roof!
The rest of the trip had multiple episodes of me losing control. Driving through an electrical storm in Arizona certainly pushed me to the edge and at one point I was physically shaking on a bed in Las Vegas thinking that I had some horrific, incurable disease. I was really scared and I didn’t understand what was happening to me.
An electrical storm.
This is pretty much what we had to drive through at the height of my anxiety. Terrified is an understatement.
Knowing what you face is a hugely important part of dealing with anxiety. When I suddenly became conscious of the fact that I had been experiencing panic attacks and acute anxiety, I was able to work towards reducing/removing it from my life. From this moment on, everything changed. I took back control and created a way for me to attack the anxiety in my life. I changed my negative mindset, did a bunch of crazy challenges and wrote a book about my experience. It’s been an incredible adventure and has taught me more about myself than I could have ever imagined. The method of “doing things that challenge you” really does work. Comfort zones were made to be left!
If you’re personally experiencing anxiety (or know someone who is), I have outlined a series of tips and tricks for you to use in the blog post linked below. Enjoy.
“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.
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