A cure for Anxiety

I think I've figured it out.

After four long years of continual worry and panic, I'm starting to understand.

Anxiety is a terrible thing, because it's normally physical things that make you worried. Something feels wrong physically - a sensation, or a pain, or something different is going on in your body somewhere. Normally, there's no obvious reason for this sudden change or physical sensation. This triggers off full-blown anxiety, which results in significant mental and physical tension. When I say physical tension, I mean muscle tension, which of course results in a whole raft of new physical sensations and pains. You're in a circle.

These physical sensations are unexplainable. So you Google. And Google is a truly shit doctor. He has no bedside manner, is incapable of giving you information in a manner which is compassionate. Normally, you have a brain tumour or MS or cancer or something else terminal and you're going to die. And it's going to hurt really bad. Cue more tension and different symptoms. Cue misery and depression.

Acceptance that it could in fact be muscle tension is always impossible to achieve. "I'm not even tense" is a common reply. Yes, my friend, you are. That's why you're constantly worried. "I'm not stressed". Yes, you are. Think about it for a bit, you know you are.

I've discovered that key to beating this terrible state of mind is to accept the way you feel physically, know that it can't hurt you and know that your body won't let you down. However much it screams at you that it will. Accept it and carry on. Do the stuff you always do, and enjoy doing it. And guess what - eventually you'll forget.

Until next time ;-p