Things I wish I knew...

Things I wish I knew about having anxiety four years ago...
And for anyone struggling with anything right now.  

• You are not alone, there are 100s of 1000s of people going through exactly what you're going through, always remember that and take comfort in that fact.
• No matter how many times you explain yourself to someone not everyone will ,'get it'. That's ok though and you have to accept that. 
• You're going to have to quickly realise as the above, not everyone will be nice about it, 'it's all in your head so that makes it not true remember'.  (Rolls eyes)  But you have to eff the haters and all that. 
• Something that you think is the absolute worst possible thing to ever happen to you, can actually bring along with it amazingness too, I have made life long friends just from all being anxious messes. 
• There are that many symptoms you can possibly feel, it can be difficult to keep track. But on a positive note, anxiety does not kill you! Otherwise I'd be long gone speaking from PLENTY of experience!! 
•  It is not something you can fight off by eating oranges like a cold. In fact its much worse if you do try and fight it. Acceptance is key. 
• Then once you have accepted it, let it be. What will be will be.
• Always always listen to your body when it's giving you the warning signs that you need to chill the hell out and look after yourself. It's ok to need to fix your mind from time to time. 
• There is no such thing as 'normal' so stop trying to search for whatever it is or whatever it feels like.  
• Also you are pretty kick ass for dealing with this on a daily basis and not giving up! 

Be patient...

One thing I really recommend when struggling with things, is to have patience. The strange thing is, I would class myself as a pretty patient person in most aspects of my life apart from with myself.

I beat myself up no end if I think things aren't happening as quick or like I expected. But it's really important that you give yourself time. Having the added pressure or timescale to when you will feel better or will have achieved something can make you feel worse. Especially like me, when you put a tremendous amount of pressure on yourself for no reason.

Let's be realistic, nothing happens over night but see it as a work in progress. Everything happens when you least expect it and I am starting to think that might be true.

You will get there, little steps at time. After everything you've already gone through, you are still here waiting, so doesn't that tell you something?

Please don't give up...

It can be easy to believe you don't have the strength to keep on going, to feel like you don't have any energy left. But trust me you do, you wouldn't be where you are if you weren't a tough cookie.

When it feel so hard it's a sign that good things are about to happen. It can be hard to see all the things we are being brave about, but if I we were constantly aware of Everything then that would reinforce that we are scared of whatever it is.

I saw a quote last week that said that the desire to quit something is a sign that you are closer to succeeding. This quote gave me a much needed boost of belief in myself and my ability to deal with certain things.

So just when you're feeling like everything is getting a little too much... life doesn't throw things at you that you aren't strong enough to handle. You absolutely can do this!