BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Mental Health Dealing With Anxiety

Anxiety can be debilitating, however it can also be managed. When we realise that they are only our thoughts we are reacting to, we can start to challenge anxious thinking and gain some peace in our lives.

Dealing With Anxiety

When we consider that our experiences are led by our thoughts, it becomes apparent that we are mostly making life up. We are projecting potential futures and worrying about things that have not - and perhaps will not happen.

How do you manage your thoughts and why do you usually believe them?

I am often uncomfortable when I'm not worrying. I believe that I make up things to worry about, and then experience the upset that I have imagined will happen.

One way I have been fighting these feelings of anxiety is giving myself projects, rather than just simply wishing I would do something.

Hi Chel. You're not alone. It is common for people to worry so that they are prepared for what comes rather than not being prepared for what comes their way.

I wonder sometimes, since we don't really have anything life threatening to worry about like the cave men did for example, that we need to put our fight or flight mode on as an inbuilt survival mechanism. Perhaps we've got so used to being in that state that feeling calm is unnatural to us now.

I wonder if historically people worried as much as us. Perhaps their worries were more survival led than the ones we may have today. I think the media shows us all the 'bad' things that are going on and perpetuate the worry in us, making us always on the look out for danger.

Your strategy is great - doing things, going for walks, taking up a mindfulness practice etc all help to keep you in the present with only what is in front of us. It can be quite surprising that nothing much really happens in a day - most of what we go through is in our thoughts...

Back in late 2006, and early 2007, I had really horrible anxiety. What was interesting was that one night my hubby came home with Ben and Jerry's ice cream - Mint chocolate chip. It had real peppermint oil in it. When I'd eat the ice cream, it definitely relaxed me. I thought it was just "eating," but it was more than that! I soon discovered that sucking on peppermint drops (with real peppermint) or even rubbing peppermint oil on my neck also helped.

I learned a couple of years ago that peppermint essential oil helps to cope with immediate anxiety. Wild, huh!

My anxiety now-a-days is not nearly what it was back then - and for that I am so super grateful. For myself, making pretty drastic dietary changes helped me. And to this day, I can often relate current anxieties to my diet. Weird, right? But if I'm stressed out already (which I often am LOL) what I'm eating can exasperate me into an anxiety attack.

I know there are so many ways anxiety can manifest, and most people don't experience relief by changing their diet. But it has been very helpful to me.

That, and peppermint oil - lots and lots of peppermint oil HA HA!!

And massage is ALWAYS amazing. I am a retired massage therapist, and I had clients who would get two a week!! It helped with so many issues because most physical issues results from stress affecting the immune system and emotional state.

Chel, I LOVE working on projects too, for stress relief. It feels so good to work toward goals!!

Thanks for sharing that Deanna Love the thing about peppermint oil - hadn't heard that before. So cool that making dietary changes made a difference Its something that generally gets overlooked but is really important to our well-being

Hi Guys!
Deanna, I join Tracy in thanks!
I have heard of Peppermint Oil, but have never thought about trying Peppermint Candies! I believe I will try that.
Have a good day, all!

If I knew how to change my thoughts I would
If I knew how to make better choices I would
I Truly get up set when my Therapist and Psychiatrist will say that I choose to do what ever this or that
I say to them, Don't you think that if I could choose another way I wouldn't of chosen this way
I've been in therapy since the 70s
It's really frustrating to explain how I feel If they never felt this way How can someone tell someone else It's something you don't learn from a book
Sorry I just needed to vent I'm Agoraphobic so the Psychiatrist, Therapist, & Doctors all come to my house And like I said I needed to vent

Hi Rosie, I am so sorry that this has been your experience. And it's not a unique one, sadly!

And when you add agoraphobia to that mix, it makes it so much harder, because "changing our thoughts," is about changing what we do (our routine), and that is so much easier when we can actually get out of the house.

Something I think many people fail to take into consideration is that when we make a choice, we are generally choosing what we think is best at the time, and don't realize it wasn't a good choice until later on, right?

I can't think of a single time when I made a choice thinking, "hey that would massively [censored] up my life, so I think I'll to that!" LOL!!

I totally get the venting Rosie. Lots of love and hugs to you XOXOX

Hi Rosie thank you for sharing. I work with a lady with agoraphobia and know it is not pleasant. I hear you when you say you would change if you knew how. Sounds like you've had it tough for a long time.

I use CBT which helps to explore our thoughts with assistance and it encourages you to challenge you thoughts. This helps to put you in touch with what you are thinking so you are more aware of the thoughts that are causing difficulties which in turns open a space to challenge the thoughts and find more functional ones. There are online CBT self help courses. I recommend this one

CBT Self Help Course

Perhaps your Therapist would work through it with you for extra support...

Our thoughts affect how we feel and in turn affect our behaviours so getting to the root of our thought process's is a big step forwards.