Are you Anxiety Aware?

So, this week is the start of Mental Health Awareness week and the theme this year being Anxiety I obviously couldn't ignore it. I have had quite a tough time recently with my own Anxiety, following numerous chats and pep talks with my wonderful family and friends, I have woken up this morning and feel a bit better!

Not only do I want to help myself but I want to help other people who are struggling or who have struggled in the past. So, in return of people being kind, supportive and staying positive for me, I am going to share a quote, saying or picture everyday this week in aid of Mental Health Awareness week. 

Here is my first quote, I hope it helps! 

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A Thought for Thursday #10...

It may not seem like it at this moment in time but...

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Note to self...

So where did April go seriously, I just feel like it has completely flown without me having a second to think.

In terms of my monthly goals I have been completely slacking and this post is just a reminder to myself to keep going in the right direction.

I also need to listen to my own advice. I continuously try and help people by writing this blog and offering advice the best I can. This month however I have gone off track a little bit and let my anxiety start taking control again, I am not really sure what has brought it on but I have found that it has been helpful to read back over my own writing and remind myself just how far I have come and how much better I have been compared to last year. I find it relatively easy to offer advice to other people and I always want to do the best for others. I do however find it the most difficult to actually listen to myself. 

Getting tangled back up into a constant state of worry can happen quite easily for me but in reality I know exactly what I should be doing to make myself better and I know I can feel better because I know I have done before.

So instead of being ignorant and letting my anxiety take control of me, I am going to do the easiest yet potentially hardest thing and take my own advice.

However, I do think it is important that we don’t sugar coat anxiety and it is vital that more awareness is raised about it as an actual illness.

It is more than likely that my anxiety is something which will never fully disappear. Acceptance is one of the biggest steps. I am probably always going to occasionally need some support and reassurance about my anxiety or any other problems I may have. I am the sort of person who feels better when I talk openly about any worries I have instead of letting them build up inside me. I have realised recently I have quite a few of people around me who are there to offer me the support I need, when I need it and can understand how I feel. I need to remember that I am not alone in this situation and I know that these people will be there for me whenever, if  I have a hard day or even a hard week.

Being able to recognise the symptoms of anxiety and knowing when I am feeling panicky should be seen as a positive and in turn I should use the knowledge and skills I have already learnt to move forward and make myself feel better again.

I need to take time to give myself more credit for how much better I am than I was before and how far I have actually come since the worst point. I have done things which I never thought I would be able to do again and things that I had never done before. I have always been my own worst enemy and bring myself down for the tiniest setbacks. I shouldn’t look back on the past and compare myself to how I have felt before as there is nothing I can do about it, ‘let the past bury, it’s already dead’ (Dale Carnegie). 

I am going to stop putting pressure on myself to feel a certain way and know that it is perfectly normal to have 'wobbles' occasionally. If the worst thing about me is that I have anxiety once in a while then things can't be too bad. 

I also started missing a couple of circuit training classes and now have got into the habit of not going for one reason or another. So it will be coming up to a month of me not doing much exercise. I know myself the positive results and all round benefits of exercise so I really need to get back on it as soon as possible. 

I am also going to aim to start running again, it doesn't need to be a specific distance or completed in a certain time I just need to run. According to the Dr's I naturally produce a lot of adrenaline anyway and it is useful to use it in a productive way that letting it go to waste and feeling rubbish as a result. 

Here's to moving forward, taking small steps, and staying positive. 

A Thought for Thursday #9

Firstly I apologise for this being late, I have had a bit of  tough week with my anxiety this week. I found this picture to help me to keep reminding myself how far I have already come.

Never give up no matter how difficult it may seem at the time! 

A problem shared is a problem halved...

Initiating the conversation with someone that you think you may be suffering from or have been diagnosed with a mental illness is one aspect of the whole thing which I have found the most difficult.

Although the blog post is written from the point of a view of someone who has had to have this particular type of conversation this may be helpful for those who need or want to start a conversation about anything to anyone.

For me, talking has been the best possible therapy whether it has just been a quick chat to someone about my anxiety or eventually plucking up the courage to speak to a doctor. I understand how difficult speaking about serious problems can be for some people and it especially doesn’t come easy when it is something you find hard to talk about openly.  There may be many reasons for feeling nervous about talking about your problem. One reason for me actually was having to admit there was something wrong and accepting that I have an anxiety disorder,saying it out loud makes it real. 

Initially it is important you talk to someone you trust and feel you can talk to about your problem. It is more than likely that you are going to be talking about an issue which can make you feel uncomfortable so finding the right person to begin the conversation with is vital. In some cases this could be your doctor and in that case you will already be taking the first step to feeling better and accepting that something is wrong. For me although going to the doctors wasn’t my first port of call the conversation I did have with the doctor immediately made me feel better because he understood how and why I was feeling the way I did. I also believe that it can be the hardest thing telling people who you are close to and speaking to someone who has experience of people suffering with the same symptoms as yourself can be reassuring it itself.

If you are a person who is listening during this conversation remember that this person has chosen to open up about something which is possibly very difficult for them to talk about. Try to come across as relaxed as possible and although you may not understand how this person is feeling make them aware that you are there to listen.

I think it is important to find the right time and place to begin your conversation about your problem. You want to feel as comfortable as possible when you are discussing how you feel. This may be that you would prefer to be at home in a familiar environment or you may feel better going for a coffee or doing something which you would do on a day to day basis which could encourage you to feel more ‘normal’ about the conversation you are going to have. Being away from home could also offer more opportunity to talk about different things and not just focus on your problem. 

Again, if you are reading this and you are on the receiving end of the conversation it is helpful if you perhaps change the subject of the conversation if the other person is showing signs of feeling uncomfortable. However it is imperative that you make them aware that you are there to listen and offer support and advice and will help in any way possible (this is most likely to be different with different people and different situations).

Take your time and don’t feel that you have to rush and tell everyone you know about how you feel. 

You may find you will need more than one conversation about your issue with the same person or you will need to repeat it to different people. 

You may not want to start the initial conversation face to face with someone, perhaps you could send an email or text message rather than saying everything all in one go. This means the person who is discussing their problems should be patient with the person who is listening and realise that it may take time for them to understand how you are feeling. And vice-versa for the other person, allow the individual to take their time and not to rush them into talking or taking the next steps.

I find that due to the lack of understanding other people have about mental illness this makes it harder for the sufferer to talk openly about it. Although there are many charities etc. which aim to get rid of the stigma attached to mental health a lot of people still make their own assumptions on how that individual should be feeling. I strongly suggest that people on both sides of the conversation should do their own personal research about whatever the issue may be in order to get a brief understanding. Perhaps the sufferer could print out some information or use a book to try and make it easier to for the other person to understand more about how they are feeling. 

I hope these few little pointers help when it comes to talking to someone about any problems you may have.

Let me know if you have any other methods and advice regarding this topic! 

A Thought for Thursday #8...

No matter how rubbish you think your day has been... 

Silence is louder than words...

I am in another one of my ranty moods and this is a topic which I have pondered about for quite a while now.

In my opinion being quiet doesn’t always mean you are a shy person. People who are thought to be quiet always have to provide an explanation for being the way they are because being slightly introverted is regarded as negative. I don’t consider myself to be a particularly shy person but numerous people have labelled me as being quiet.

It is another one of those judgements where people assume that quiet people lack the ability to be socially adequate. Maybe these people appear to quiet because they don’t get an opportunity to get a word in edge ways when they are surrounded by ‘loud’ people. Basically you don’t need to be a person shy to be classed as an introvert it just means you are quite happy being in your own company which to me isn’t always a bad thing.

I get the impression that we are all lead to believe that those who are loud and who are always the centre of attention are doing the right thing.  People use the fact that an individual who is quiet as having a poor personality. For example I have genuinely heard people say that someone is a nice person apart the fact that they are a quiet but never about someone who is more outgoing.

Being loud is always viewed in a positive way, being loud means you are confident and sociable and this must mean you have lots of friends.Just because you are quiet and perhaps prefer to keep your thoughts to yourself this doesn't mean you are inadequate compared with other people. We are falsely led to believe that introverted people cannot possibly make a difference and influence ideas and change.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago but haven’t actually got round to finishing it or like usual thinking it wasn’t good enough to share. There is an article in this month’s Company magazines which fits in perfectly with this blog post. It discusses how the internet provides ‘quiet’ people with the platform to finally speak their mind which they may not have been able to do so before.

This is exactly how I feel and I am sure many other bloggers do also. It has given me the opportunity to talk openly about an issue is which very important and close to my heart which I perhaps wouldn’t of got the chance to do. Because I am ‘quiet’, without the internet I wouldn’t have been able to share my thoughts to thousands of other people and help people like I have done already.

Having the ability to express yourself through different ways allows you to accept being you instead of hiding away and doubting your own beliefs. Just like Company magazine says ‘quiet’/introverted people still have just as many amazing personality traits and skills as ‘loud’/extroverted people, so instead of taking a back seat behind those who don’t stop talking, why not get your voice heard but in your own individual way!