A little about myself is that I love capri suns, despise math, and could watch pageants and netflix for the rest of my life (every second of it). Oh, and also? I've been boxing a near and not so dear friend of mine for most of my life: the big A. Anxiety.
After researching (I'm not a premed major...I had to do it for a random class) I read that over 40 million americans suffer from it, and 1/3rd of us don't even treat it. I'm one hundred and fifty-seven percent part of the lazy/dumb/'I'm not helping myself' half. Yes, I do have medication, but do I really want to take it? No. Why? I'm not a person who turns down meds to help me feel better, I just want to help myself find other ways to live a normal life.
Story time (if you're interested, it's not the good kind): I really hate sharing this with others, but I mean yet I'll share it with randoms from tinder on a first date? (I'm surprised they waited until the 5th/6th/etc date to run for the hills...) I have the weirdest type of anxiety. Sure we all love comparing our panic attacks and the amount of time we cried, but I think therapists put an asterisk next to this bad boy, considering all the googling in the world can't tell me how horrific or how soon I will die from this epidemic (damn you WebMD). So, I get really bad anxiety in the shower. I've tried to find out the association between things in my life and why this would happen but it's really hard to tell since nothing has happened to me. But when I get anxiety, I get a panic attack and have to get out of the shower until I calm myself down. The crappy part is sometimes it will happen twice within a 5 minute period.
..Looks like I'm loosing followers from my blog and now people are placing me in a loony bin. Ultimately, if you suffer from anxiety, I have some tips that could (or could not) help you.
Take control of your situation. The reason we suffer from anxiety is because fear of the unknown. Most of my anxiety is caused by stress (obvi common) so try to have a good ole happy day (by putting on some Beyoncé). When taking control of the situation, find your happy place. Do/see things that will put you're mind at ease. Also if you're a creative yet type A person like me, lists can make you feel better if you're stressing about stuff you have to do. Even put things you've already accomplished on the list so you can mark it off with your new electric blue gel pen. It's okay, I won't tell.
Mindless activities that make me happy...driving into the city!
Retail Therapy. Say it with me!!!!!!!!!!!! So I don't think monsieur wallet or husband/boyfriend/dad will approve of this one, but it's a-okay in my book. If you were to ever see my closet you wouldn't think oh hey this girl has anxiety (yet I wonder why I complain I have no clothes...), but it's how I cope with anxiety. Also if you are retail therapy-ing here's a tip: CLEAR-ANCE-RACK. Hello 5 dolla shirt at TJ maxx!
Work out. I could probably make a playlist with all songs including rappers saying stuff like they like women who are working out (I'm pointing fingers at you, J.Cole), but he has a valid point. When I'm at the gym, I either watch netflix (shout out to the iPhone app), or listen to super hype electric dance music [EDM] because then I bob my head to the beat and also need to try to prevent myself from shaking my booty because I'm a typical #whitegirl. *hair flip emoji*. Once I achieve back sweat (yuck), I'm ready to head on out. When I leave, I'm a brand new person. Working out is mindless (I also don't do heavy lifting....) but do something mindless when on your elliptical! Read, listen to a radio talk show, netflix...possibilities are endless!
#EmbarrassingSeflie
Granted, I'm no therapist (Heck, this is why I have one. Sort of.) but I think those ways to cope with anxiety are what get me through life and realize wow Mom, I am normal. Sort of. You can figure that one out for yourself...
