I have suffered from anxiety from around age 19. I was on and off meds for many years for it, but eventually attended cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and it literally was the best thing I ever did.
Thanks to the CBT I have literally remained anxiety free for many years, but life has been a bit hectic since January 2021 and for the last few weeks I have felt anxiety sitting just below the surface of my everyday life. If you’ve ever suffered from anxiety you will know just how unsettling this is.
On Tuesday night it all came to a head and I ended up having an anxiety attach. For me the symptoms include upset stomach, nausea, vomiting and very restless legs (we’ve named it the shimmy-shakes). I eventually managed to go to sleep but had a bad night, waking often.
Quick tips for calming anxiety
Thankfully CBT taught me some amazing techniques for calming my anxiety.Here are my quick tips for calming anxiety:
- Ground yourself. For me this involves hugging my husband and kids. Grounding yourself could also be walking barefoot on the grass or ground, touching plants, the soil, walking along the sea front.
- Pay attention to your immediate environment. I look around and notice things. Like the light reflecting on the wall in the room, or the rain drops running down the window.
- Do something calming. I love doing paintings on my phone, I’ve got a great app called Happy Colour and I find that doing a beautiful picture helps calm my anxiety pretty quickly
- Take a bath. I add bath salts and bubbles and find the fragrance and being submerged in water really calms all my symptoms
Much love xxx