I was browsing through Anxiety Zone the other day and came across this the other day and had to post/save it. Its a really good read.
All Credit goes to Brosephski, the link to his original post can be found below the posting.
You can be in deepest, darkest pit right now. You can be 99% convinced of the most bizarre, unsettling thought. I've had them all. 'I'm going crazy!', 'I'm going to lose control!', etc. (Truthfully, I'm convinced I've had the most surreal of these 'what-if' thoughts, and I'll spare you the proof!) Whatever. Right now... what are you afraid of? Say it, say it out loud. Bring it to the fore-front of your mind. There is something troubling you. Just say it out loud no matter how stupid.
Lesson #1: there is no correlation between how convinced you are of something and how close to reality it actually is. Please reread that. Again.
I could be completely so completely convinced that that cute girl in my law class likes me but that won't make an ounce of difference when someone asks her what she thinks about me! How convinced you are of something equals jack-shizzle when it comes to reality!
Lesson #2: Your nasty anxiety-disorder works to convince you of these ideas through self-fulfilling prophecies. Allow me to explain. There you are, sitting down and having a good ole day. When out of nowhere you start to feel like something is amiss. This is your ugly anxiety-disorder rearing his stupid ********. Then it manifests itself in a thought: "What if I'm about to have a panic attack?" Well, that would be something unpleasant... Thus your heart starts beating a little quicker. You take note of that. Oh no, if you're heart is beating quicker that's a sign of a panic attack! Now your nasty anxiety disorder just gave you proof! This elevates your fear, then you think: "I must be having a panic attack!" Etc., etc. You get the idea...
Truth #1: Your fear is unfounded. This is the crux of overcoming anxiety in any form. Realizing there is nothing there. It's all your anxiety manifesting itself in any thought or physical symptom that can take root. As soon as you realize and truly accept that your anxiety is a compulsive liar, he loses his power. As you discuss your fears openly to friends and counselors, you will start to see just how ridiculous your fears are. Your anxiety disorder will start to lose serious ground, but he's desperate! He clings to whatever he can... E.g.: "Okay, maybe I'm not going to die right now! But maybe there is still something wrong with my body that will kill me eventually?!"
Truth #2: Okay, so seriously. WHAT IF...? Okay, I can almost guarantee that whatever bizarre thought your suffering from is not true. But humor it. What if you did have an aneurysm? I mean, hell that would suck. But worrying about it doesn't do a thing. If it happens, it happens. And the doctors can take care of it when it does. What the hell is the point worrying, seriously? What if you do have a panic attack? Well, it'll suck for about 10 min. One minute of that will really suck but then...? LIFE. GOES. ON.
Forgive me for invoking this reference. But okay, there's this one scene in Home Alone (I know, I know...). Kevin is sitting in a church pew knowing that the crooks are coming to his house that night. He sees the old neighbor man that he's been afraid of start to come over to him... Yadda, yadda, Kevin finds out the dude is not a killer, and they start talking. The old man divulges to Kevin that he and his son got into a tiff and now his son's family doesn't come over and visit for the holidays. The old man is missing his son terribly. "Why don't you call him?" Kevin asks. "I'm afraid he won't talk to me," the old man replies. Kevin responds: "Well, at least if you call him and he hangs up on you, you won't have to worry about it anymore."
That's actually quite profound. So what if the worst happens. You suffer. And then what? The mental agony your anxiety disorder wants you to bear is FAR BEYOND any reasonable response to that possible situation.
Truth #3: The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.
"Okay," you respond to me. "So maybe I'm not going crazy. But I do have an anxiety disorder. We can't argue about that! Isn't that reason enough to be afraid?"
Nope! Why? Because an anxiety disorder can be utterly destroyed! He's all bark and no bite! Seriously, our minds are malleable. We can literally change the chemistry of our brains through thought. No chemicals needed, honestly. That's the reason some people started with a minor anxiety disorder and it got worse. These people's thoughts made the anxiety disorder itself get stronger!
On the flip side, you can come to a point where you have so utterly annihilated those irrational fears that flood your head, that the anxiety doesn't even rear its head. You literally can change your brain chemistry to stop the anxiety. No sudden heart palpitations. No mental fog. No dizziness. No depression. Believe me, it's possible.
I had the worst anxiety you can imagine... and I'm at a place where it's almost staggering when I think to how I was in high school (I'm 22 now). And I've haven't had a single pill for anxiety... No alcoholism either...
There is hope for you, friend! God loves you and wants you to defeat this anxiety monster... You CAN do it! You can!
http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php/topic,30224.0.html
All Credit goes to Brosephski, the link to his original post can be found below the posting.
You can be in deepest, darkest pit right now. You can be 99% convinced of the most bizarre, unsettling thought. I've had them all. 'I'm going crazy!', 'I'm going to lose control!', etc. (Truthfully, I'm convinced I've had the most surreal of these 'what-if' thoughts, and I'll spare you the proof!) Whatever. Right now... what are you afraid of? Say it, say it out loud. Bring it to the fore-front of your mind. There is something troubling you. Just say it out loud no matter how stupid.
Lesson #1: there is no correlation between how convinced you are of something and how close to reality it actually is. Please reread that. Again.
I could be completely so completely convinced that that cute girl in my law class likes me but that won't make an ounce of difference when someone asks her what she thinks about me! How convinced you are of something equals jack-shizzle when it comes to reality!
Lesson #2: Your nasty anxiety-disorder works to convince you of these ideas through self-fulfilling prophecies. Allow me to explain. There you are, sitting down and having a good ole day. When out of nowhere you start to feel like something is amiss. This is your ugly anxiety-disorder rearing his stupid ********. Then it manifests itself in a thought: "What if I'm about to have a panic attack?" Well, that would be something unpleasant... Thus your heart starts beating a little quicker. You take note of that. Oh no, if you're heart is beating quicker that's a sign of a panic attack! Now your nasty anxiety disorder just gave you proof! This elevates your fear, then you think: "I must be having a panic attack!" Etc., etc. You get the idea...
Truth #1: Your fear is unfounded. This is the crux of overcoming anxiety in any form. Realizing there is nothing there. It's all your anxiety manifesting itself in any thought or physical symptom that can take root. As soon as you realize and truly accept that your anxiety is a compulsive liar, he loses his power. As you discuss your fears openly to friends and counselors, you will start to see just how ridiculous your fears are. Your anxiety disorder will start to lose serious ground, but he's desperate! He clings to whatever he can... E.g.: "Okay, maybe I'm not going to die right now! But maybe there is still something wrong with my body that will kill me eventually?!"
Truth #2: Okay, so seriously. WHAT IF...? Okay, I can almost guarantee that whatever bizarre thought your suffering from is not true. But humor it. What if you did have an aneurysm? I mean, hell that would suck. But worrying about it doesn't do a thing. If it happens, it happens. And the doctors can take care of it when it does. What the hell is the point worrying, seriously? What if you do have a panic attack? Well, it'll suck for about 10 min. One minute of that will really suck but then...? LIFE. GOES. ON.
Forgive me for invoking this reference. But okay, there's this one scene in Home Alone (I know, I know...). Kevin is sitting in a church pew knowing that the crooks are coming to his house that night. He sees the old neighbor man that he's been afraid of start to come over to him... Yadda, yadda, Kevin finds out the dude is not a killer, and they start talking. The old man divulges to Kevin that he and his son got into a tiff and now his son's family doesn't come over and visit for the holidays. The old man is missing his son terribly. "Why don't you call him?" Kevin asks. "I'm afraid he won't talk to me," the old man replies. Kevin responds: "Well, at least if you call him and he hangs up on you, you won't have to worry about it anymore."
That's actually quite profound. So what if the worst happens. You suffer. And then what? The mental agony your anxiety disorder wants you to bear is FAR BEYOND any reasonable response to that possible situation.
Truth #3: The only thing you have to fear is fear itself.
"Okay," you respond to me. "So maybe I'm not going crazy. But I do have an anxiety disorder. We can't argue about that! Isn't that reason enough to be afraid?"
Nope! Why? Because an anxiety disorder can be utterly destroyed! He's all bark and no bite! Seriously, our minds are malleable. We can literally change the chemistry of our brains through thought. No chemicals needed, honestly. That's the reason some people started with a minor anxiety disorder and it got worse. These people's thoughts made the anxiety disorder itself get stronger!
On the flip side, you can come to a point where you have so utterly annihilated those irrational fears that flood your head, that the anxiety doesn't even rear its head. You literally can change your brain chemistry to stop the anxiety. No sudden heart palpitations. No mental fog. No dizziness. No depression. Believe me, it's possible.
I had the worst anxiety you can imagine... and I'm at a place where it's almost staggering when I think to how I was in high school (I'm 22 now). And I've haven't had a single pill for anxiety... No alcoholism either...
There is hope for you, friend! God loves you and wants you to defeat this anxiety monster... You CAN do it! You can!
http://www.anxietyzone.com/index.php/topic,30224.0.html
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